With Congress set for hearings this week on the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, discussion continues in and around Washington on what the plan means for various stakeholders. NextGenWeb listened recently as leading broadband, minority and economic experts discussed the plan’s impact specifically on minority business at the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Legislative Summit.

Thomas Reed, FCC Director, Office of Communications Business, spoke to the plan’s specifics, stressing how important broadband availability can be to the success of small and diverse businesses.  The plan’s recommendations, he said, nearly double the number of Small Business Development Centers (SBDs) and foster the development of public/private partnerships for the smallest businesses in the country’s neediest areas.

Joseph Miller, of the Minority Media and Telecom Council, said he was encouraged to see many of his group’s suggestions appear in some form in the plan, such as the increased reliance on SBDs and the public/private partnership that Reed mentioned.

Jose Marquez-Leon, President of the Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association, took the private/public partnership idea one step further; he said that increased minority broadband adoption will really be a three part effort between government, corporations and the non-profits that educate minority communities on the benefits on broadband.

Not until the end of the panel did the oft-mentioned term “digital divide” come up. Sylvia Aguilera, Executive Director of the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications partnership, said the digital divide is very real. Earlier in the panel, she cited a shocking stat: only one out of every five Spanish-speaking Hispanics have broadband at home. But, she also pointed out, Hispanics outpace other groups in areas such as digital downloads and wireless connections. The panel, in agreement that the NBP will improve minority adoption, mused that perhaps the better term these days is “digital inclusion.”

Verizon Vice President Emilio Gonzalez commended the FCC and the Administration for their efforts, calling the plan a good foundation. Closing the discussion on a hopeful note, Gonzalez reminded the audience that the last major Telecom Reform Bill, passed in 1996, was a truly bipartisan effort. He hopes for same outcome in 2010, with both sides of the aisle reaching common ground.

As we’ve learned this past week, the National Broadband Plan has recommendations that will impact every group of consumers, with minorities and small business owners perhaps standing to gain the most. We’ll be interested to see how Congress reacts this week.

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