The National Broadband Plan and Small Business

On April 27, Sen Mary Landrieu, the chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, sent Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski question as a follow-up to a hearing on federal efforts to expand small business Internet access.

Questions include: 1) how the National Broadband Plan will advance opportunities for small businesses, including women and minority-owned small businesses, 2) the role of municipal broadband, 3) allowing placement of wireless towers on federal buildings, 4) broadband competition, and 5) broadband reclassification.

On October 15, Chairman Genachowski wrote back to the Small Business Committee saying that the National Broadband Plan contains a number of strong recommendations to advance opportunities for small businesses, including women and minority-owned small businesses. To improve availability of broadband infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, the Plan proposes a once in a generation transformation of the Universal Service Fund, shifting support from plain old telephone service to broadband communications. The Plan also lays out a strategy for unleashing additional spectrum for wireless broadband; enabling incentive auctions and market-based solutions for driving spectrum to its highest, best and most efficient use and promoting flexible and unlicensed spectrum use -- such as the FCC's recent effort to free up white spaces for unlicensed use to unleash a host of new technologies such as "Super Wi-Fi" and other diverse applications. To bring more broadband choices to small businesses, and improve affordability, the Plan recommends taking steps to promote competition, including the development of an effective framework to ensure that small businesses benefit from robust, healthy competition in the marketplace.