Congress gets busy on high speed internet access

Members of Congress have been getting an earful lately about the necessity of expanding high speed internet access in rural America.

Perhaps the most authoritative voice so far has been that of FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. In a hearing earlier this month before the House Subcommittee on Rural and Urban Entrepreneurship, Adelstein eloquently outlined a vision for our country in which every citizen can reap the benefits of high speed internet access:

We need to maximize the potential of every citizen to contribute to our social, cultural and economic life through communications, whether they live in major cities or in rural, insular or other high-cost areas, whether they are Native Americans living on tribal lands or residents of economically challenged sections of our inner cities, whether they live with disabilities, whether or not they speak English, and regardless of their income level… We need to make broadband the dial-tone of the 21st Century.

Adelstein noted that the U.S. continues to fall behind the rest of the developed world when it comes to high speed internet access, and that our economy is suffering as a result. But rather than dwell on the negatives, Adelstein issued a call to overcome our current troubles:

Some have argued that the reason we have fallen so far in the international broadband rankings is that we are a more rural country than many of those ahead of us. If that is the case, and since geography is destiny and we cannot change ours, rather than merely curse the difficulty of addressing rural communications challenges, we should redouble our efforts and get down to the business of addressing and overcoming them.

The measures suggested by the FCC official included raising the national definition of "high speed" up from 200 kilobits per second, collecting more comprehensive data on current high speed internet access, setting national deployment benchmarks, and increasing incentives for telecom companies to build out infrastructure.

Adelstein's testimony was well received by Congress, and he wasn't alone. At the same hearing, Missouri Farmers Union president Russ Kremer discussed the benefits of high speed internet to rural Americans. He described how important high speed internet connections are for farmers, who use the internet to check the weather, browse market and crop reports, learn new skills, and search for suppliers.

Like Adelstein, Kremer called for more government incentives to attract private investment into rural regions.

At yet another hearing on high speed internet access in rural America, witnesses urged members of the House Subcommittee on Specialty Crops, Rural Development, and Foreign Agriculture to boost high speed internet programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As the House considers the re-authorization of the 2002 Farm Bill, it must include more high speed internet provisions.

The ranking Republican on the subcommittee, Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado, signaled her support for such measures that would be a boon to local economies:

Deployment of high speed internet service is one of the most important factors for the economic development and future success of our rural communities. For instance, telework has the potential to slow and possible reverse the population exodus from our rural areas.

U.S. Senators received a letter from Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, urging them to pass legislation expanding high speed internet access in rural America. Stallman noted the large discrepancy between subscriber rates in rural areas compared to those in urban and suburban regions. Then, he cited a 2006 study by the U.S. Commerce Department which showed that over a three year period communities with high speed internet access did significantly better than communities without access in terms of employment, number of businesses, and property values.

As the researchers concluded,

Many significant public policy reforms and programs are in place or under consideration at the federal, state, and local levels to ensure competitive availability of broadband to all U.S. citizens, stimulate ongoing investment in broadband infrastructure, and facilitate the education and training that small business and residential customers need to make effective use of broadband’s capabilities. Such policies are indeed aimed at important goals. Broadband is clearly related to economic well-being and is thus a critical component of our national communications infrastructure.

With experts lining up to present such overwhelming evidence on Capitol Hill, Congress will have no choice but to act on expanding high speed internet to all.

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein Testifies on Broadband (FCC)

Country Connection (Missouri Ruralist)

Congress reviews rural broadband programs (Hutchinson Leader)

Broadband Internet Access Critical for Rural America (Voice of Agriculture)

Measuring Broadband's Economic Impact (U.S. Department of Commerce)