On May 9, I testified before the House Committee on Small Business’ Subcommittee on Rural and Urban Entrepreneurship regarding the disparity in broadband access between major metropolitan areas and rural communities.

Rural communities are missing the healthcare, education and economic improvements associated with broadband deployment. Not only is it critical that these opportunities be delivered to rural America, it’s the right thing to do.

Since 2000, when there were just over 4 million broadband lines in the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has made a series of decisions that have guided the communications marketplace to market-based competition rather than a government-managed system. Because of the FCC’s leadership, there were almost 65 million broadband lines by 2006 – an increase of 61 million lines!

To me this demonstrates a pretty direct link between the FCC’s market-based policies and the explosion of broadband subscribers in the U.S. The lack of regulation on wireless services has also permitted wireless broadband services to grow exponentially. In June of 2005, there were almost 380,000 wireless broadband subscribers; in June of 2006, there were more than 11 million. The FCC’s recent video franchise order promises to further increase the demand for broadband service. Against this competitive backdrop, North American telecommunications companies are projected to spend $70 billion on new infrastructure this year alone.

The problem is that the majority of the benefits associated with broadband go to people living in metropolitan areas while those in rural America are left behind. While there are no “magic bullets� to solving a problem that is largely one of geography and population density, there are steps Congress can take. For example, we must ensure a sustainable future for universal service, to increase access to telecommunications services nationwide, and maintain affordable rates in low-income and rural areas. Broadband is also very price sensitive, so we should also make permanent the Internet tax moratorium.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) broadband loan program has achieved some successes in providing access to lesser populated areas. The primary weakness of the current program is that it does too little for communities with no access to broadband. Although the nation is dotted with areas currently not served, the USDA Inspector General concluded the program’s focus has shifted away from rural communities that would not, without government assistance, have access to broadband technology. We made a number of recommendations to improve the program, largely based on its successful telephone program counterpart. In addition, we recommended that Congress take a close look at the success of “Connect Kentucky� program, a public private partnership that will provide the entire state broadband access by the end of this year.

One of the elements of the Connect Kentucky model was mapping the states existing broadband coverage. As Congress focuses in on the mapping concept, I hope they will keep it simple and get going right away using this model rather than recreating the wheel at the federal level. In fact, Senator Dick Durbin has introduced a bill, S.1190, that would do that very thing.

It is imperative that we take proactive steps to provide rural areas with broadband access. Broadband innovations carry the promise of life-enhancing applications in health care, the environment, education and the economy; principles all Americans are entitled to.

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