The House Small Business Committee has scheduled a hearing for
July 18 on the impact of broadband access, or the lack thereof, on small
businesses and it has lined up the chairman of the FCC, among others, to weigh
in.
Also on the list of witnesses for the hearing, Digital
Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small Businesses, are former FCC
commissioner and current Rural Utilities Service Administrator Jonathan
Adelstein and National Telecommunications and Information Administration chief
Larry Strickling. Strickling and Adelstein's agencies are responsible for
handing out and overseeing billions in broadband stimulus money.
The hearing is on the role of the federal government in
expanding broadband to small business, particularly in rural areas.
"[U]nfortunately, providing coverage to rural and
underserved areas has been a challenge for the private sector and federal
government," said Committee chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) in a statement.
"This hearing will provide an opportunity to discuss this problem, and the
proper role of the federal government in addressing it."
