More Small Business Broadband in the Senate
May 17th, 2010 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: TechnologyA few weeks ago, the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship held a hearing on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) National Broadband Plan and its promise (or lack thereof) for small businesses. At the end of that hearing, Chairwoman Mary Landrieu (D-LA) announced that she intended to hold another hearing during which she wanted to hear from small business owners who had used broadband access to grow their businesses and from small business owners who had been denied that opportunity. Chairwoman Landrieu was as good as her word and that second meeting — this time a roundtable that was not filmed by the Capitol Hill television studio nor webcast online — was held last week.
The participants in the Chairwoman’s roundtable did not make any startling revelations nor did they spend much time describing how the Internet had fundamentally changed the way many small businesses will do business into the future. However, since some of them were indeed microbusinesses, at least that perspective was represented in the discussion, which is heartening. Essentially, all the participants told stories about why it is critically important that Congress and the Administration carry out some program — whether it is the one already proposed by the FCC or not — to ensure fast, affordable, universal broadband access. Interestingly, another group represented at this roundtable was small service providers. From them, the Committee heard of various challenges involving large companies keeping them from competing and asked for help in creating an even playing field.
