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77–559 2012

DIGITAL DIVIDE: EXPANDING BROADBAND ACCESS 

TO SMALL BUSINESSES 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS 

UNITED STATES 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

HEARING HELD 

JULY 18, 2012 

Small Business Committee Document Number 112–079 

Available via the GPO Website: www.fdsys.gov 


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C O N T E N T S 

OPENING STATEMENTS 

Page 

Hon. Sam Graves ..................................................................................................... 1 

Hon. Nydia Vela ́zquez ............................................................................................. 2 

WITNESSES 

The Honorable Julius Genachowski, Chairman, Federal Communications 

Commission, Washington, DC ............................................................................. 3 

The Honorable Jonathan Adelstein, Administrator, Rural Utility Service, 

United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC ............................ 6 

The Honorable Lawrence E. Strickling, Assistant Secretary, National Telecommunications & Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC ....................................................................................... 8 

APPENDIX 

Prepared Statements: 

The Honorable Julius Genachowski, Chairman, Federal Communications 

Commission, Washington, DC ...................................................................... 30 

The Honorable Jonathan Adelstein, Administrator, Rural Utility Service, 

United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC ..................... 34 

The Honorable Lawrence E. Strickling, Assistant Secretary, National 

Telecommunications & Information Administration, U.S. Department 

of Commerce, Washington, DC .................................................................... 42 

Questions for the Record: 

Rep. Peters Questions for the Record for Mr. Genachowski and Mr. 

Strickling ....................................................................................................... 60 

Rep. Mulvaney Questions for the Record for Mr. Genachowski ................... 61 

Rep. Hahn Questions for the Record for Mr. Genachowski .......................... 63 

Rep. Schrader Questions for the Record for Mr. Genachowski .................... 64 

Answers for the Record: 

Mr. Strickling Answers for the Record ........................................................... 65 

Mr. Genachowski Answers for the Record ...................................................... 68 

Additional Materials for the Record: 

eBay Letter for the Record .............................................................................. 77 

Statement of the American Farm Bureau Federation .................................. 80 


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HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS 

SAM GRAVES, Missouri, Chairman 

ROSCOE BARTLETT, Maryland 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

STEVE KING, Iowa 

MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado 

MICK MULVANEY, South Carolina 

SCOTT TIPTON, Colorado 

JEFF LANDRY, Louisiana 

JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER, Washington 

ALLEN WEST, Florida 

RENEE ELLMERS, North Carolina 

JOE WALSH, Illinois 

LOU BARLETTA, Pennsylvania 

RICHARD HANNA, New York 

ROBERT T. SCHILLING, Illinois 

NYDIA VELA ́ ZQUEZ, New York, Ranking Member 

KURT SCHRADER, Oregon 

MARK CRITZ, Pennsylvania 

YVETTE CLARKE, New York 

JUDY CHU, California 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

CEDRIC RICHMOND, Louisiana 

JANICE HAHN, California 

GARY PETERS, Michigan 

BILL OWENS, New York 

BILL KEATING, Massachusetts 

LORI SALLEY, Staff Director 

PAUL SASS, Deputy Staff Director 

BARRY PINELES, Chief Counsel 

MICHAEL DAY, Minority Staff Director 


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DIGITAL DIVIDE: EXPANDING BROADBAND 

ACCESS TO SMALL BUSINESSES 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS, Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 1:00 p.m., in room 2360, 

Rayburn House Office Building. Hon. Sam Graves (chairman of the 

Committee) presiding. 

Present: Representatives Graves, King, Mulvaney, Tipton, 

Landry, Herrera Beutler, West, Ellmers, Hanna, Schilling, 

Vela ́zquez, Schrader, Owen, Critz, Chu, Cicilline, and Richmond. 

Chairman GRAVES. I call this hearing to order. I apologize for the 

delay. Obviously, we had a vote and sometimes that messes us up 

when it comes to hearings but I very much appreciate everybody 

coming out today, and particularly to our very distinguished panel 

of witnesses who are testifying today. And I very much appreciate 

your participation. 

Today we have an opportunity to hear from three key federal 

agencies on their efforts to expand broadband access to small businesses all across America. These agencies play an important role 

in developing the policies aimed at incentivizing broadband deployment by the private sector. 

Access to broadband has the potential to transform the way 

small businesses operate and compete in today’s economy. It provides small firms the opportunity to utilize a variety of new tools 

to help reduce costs and increase productivity. E-mail, online marketing, video conferencing, and access to cloud computing are just 

a few examples. Moreover, access to high-speed Internet is a catalyst for economic growth and entrepreneurship, especially in rural 

areas. 

While it is easy to understand the benefits of broadband Internet, those capabilities would not be available if not for the contributions of private Internet providers. Earlier this year our Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology, chaired by Ms. Ellmers, 

held a hearing on this subject with private carriers and users. The 

consensus response we heard, and will continue to hear today I am 

sure, is the need for regulatory certainty. They need to know what 

regulatory changes are coming, and when, so that they can obviously make the necessary adjustments to their business operations. 

This brings me to a couple of very key, important points. First, 

when agencies consider new policies, like reforming the Universal 

Service Fund, we need to ensure that these changes do not diminish the incentives for private sector investment to deploy 


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broadband. And second, I encourage you to accelerate the supply of 

spectrum for wireless providers to keep up with the growing demand. The boom in wireless smartphones and tablets has created 

a new market of innovation and capabilities for small businesses 

that have to continue. 

Without private sector investment in broadband infrastructure, 

many small firms in rural areas, like my area in northwest Missouri, will be disconnected from one of the most powerful tools of 

our generation, which will in turn hamper their success, obviously. 

So again, I want to thank all of our witnesses for being here. I 

very much look forward to your testimony. 

I now yield to Ranking Member Vela ́zquez for her opening statement. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Thank you, Chairman Graves. 

Today’s hearing will offer an opportunity to summon the benefits 

and challenges of broadband deployment, acknowledging telecommunication sectors as substantial contributors to the U.S. economy and an engine for growth. Opportunities in this industry are 

likely to expand as they build out broadband and new wireless networks. Collectively, investments are projected to generate between 

more than 300,000 jobs and contribute over $70 billion in GDP 

growth. 

Our nation’s small firms stand ready to capture many of these 

economic gains. Innovation is leading the way in today’s economy, 

and small companies are at the forefront. Not only does broadband 

facilitate innovation by small firms, it allows them to use the most 

cutting edge products available. More small businesses are embracing broadband than ever before, and it is rapidly changing the way 

business is conducted. Innovative applications and services such as 

videoconferencing are helping small companies reduce costs, increase productivity, and expand their businesses into new competitive markets. Firms can save more than $16,000 in start-up costs 

just by conducting activities from land. 

We have seen the benefits broadband technology can bring to our 

daily lives in a variety of ways. Those fortunate enough to have access to broadband know how it improves efficiency and reduces 

costs. Because of the lack of network infrastructure, rural and low 

income community access is being outpaced by the rest of the country. Unfortunately, the adoption path may further widen without 

adequate support for broadband deployment. Eliminating the digital divide is vital not only to assist distant rural and low income 

communities but also helping our nation’s job creators. By making 

the virtual marketplace more accessible, more entrepreneurs can 

grow their companies and invest in hires. 

The Recovery Act loan and grant benefits are twofold. As disadvantaged businesses are building their networks and expanding 

their services, small businesses and communities gain access to 

high speed Internet. In the long term this results in attracting 

more businesses, lower unemployment rates, and skilled workers. 

However, this program has not done enough to completely overcome the cost issue small businesses face. 

As we learned during the Committee’s February hearing, 

broadband availability continues to be a challenge in some communities, both rural and urban. We even heard how recent USDA and 


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ICC reform have proven difficult for many of the nation’s small 

rural carriers. 

This hearing will focus on improving broadband access in order 

to strengthen the small business economy. The insights gathered 

today will ensure that policies coming out of Congress are effectively supporting network deployment without burdening small 

telecom providers. This Committee will also make certain that the 

needs of small firms are taken into account in upcoming spectrum 

options and in moving forward with U.S. reform. 

In advance of the testimony, I want to thank all the witnesses 

for being here today. With that I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Thank 

you. 

Chairman GRAVES. Thank you, ranking member. 

Before I get started it gives me a great deal of pleasure to recognize my daughter who is in the hearing room today and just started—is starting law school this fall and this is the first time she has 

been in one of the Small Business Committee hearings and I appreciate her being here today. 

And with that I want to introduce our first witness, The Honorable Julius Genachowski, who is the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Chairman Genachowski was confirmed 

by the Senate in 2009 and oversees an agency of over 1,700 employees, which is responsible for regulating the interstate and 

international communications. Thank you very much for being 

here. I appreciate it and look forward to your testimony. 

STATEMENTS OF THE HONORABLE JULIUS GENACHOWSKI, 

CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION; THE 

HONORABLE JONATHAN ADELSTEIN, ADMINISTRATOR, 

RURAL UTILITY SERVICE, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF 

AGRICULTURE; THE HONORABLE LAWRENCE E. 

STRICKLING, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION, 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

STATEMENT OF JULIUS GENACHOWSKI 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Thank you, Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Vela ́zquez, and members of the Committee. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today, and I am pleased to join my federal 

partners, NTIA Administrator Strickling, and RUS Administrator 

Adelstein. 

My primary focus as FCC Chairman has been promoting innovation, investment, competition, and consumers in the communications and technology sector. We have focused the agency on maximizing the benefits of broadband communications and on helping 

harness wired and wireless broadband to grow our economy, enhance U.S. competitiveness, and create jobs, as well as advancing 

important goals like improved education, health care, and public 

safety. 

A key element of our strategy has been empowering small businesses. As this Committee well knows, American small businesses 

are key drivers of economic growth and job creation. Broadband is 

increasingly important to the future of small businesses. It enables 

small businesses to grow and jobs to be created anywhere, not only 


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in urban markets but in small rural towns all over the country. 

Broadband allows small businesses to market their products and 

reach customers in the next neighborhood, the next city, the next 

state, and even overseas, increasing their revenue. 

And broadband allows small businesses to lower their costs 

through cloud-based services. Increased revenue. Lower costs. More 

profits. More jobs. 

More than one million entrepreneurs, a large percentage of 

which are small businesses, are already selling products on EBay, 

Amazon, and other platforms, but of course doing so requires 

broadband access. 

Over the past three years, the FCC has taken a number of actions to help more small businesses seize the opportunities of 

broadband. Let us start with universal service reform. Today, 

about 18 million Americans, including many small business owners, live in areas where they cannot get broadband. 

The Universal Service Fund we inherited was not addressing 

that gap. It was optimized for telephone service, not broadband. It 

had become inefficient and even wasteful, sending money, for example, to multiple providers in one community, and none to other 

communities. And it did not have adequate accountability, allowing 

recipients to control their own funding spigot. 

Last December, I am proud that the FCC unanimously approved 

a once-in-a-generation overhaul of the Universal Service Fund, 

transforming this 20th century program that supported phone service into a 21st century, fiscally responsible Connect America Fund 

that supports broadband. These reforms put us on a path to connect all unserved Americans and small businesses by 2020. Just 

last week, one provider, Frontier, announced that it will be deploying broadband to about 200,000 unserved Americans as part of 

these reforms. 

These reforms will also help ensure that consumers, including 

small businesses, paying into the fund get a fair bang for their 

buck. FCC staff estimates that roughly a quarter of all universal 

service contributions are paid by small businesses, over $2 billion 

per year. That is one reason we have set out to eliminate waste 

and inefficiency throughout USF. 

Our efforts to expand broadband access are complementary to 

the important work to ensure broadband availability being done by 

NTIA and RUS. These cooperative efforts with our federal partners 

are helping more small businesses seize the opportunities of 

broadband. 

The Commission is also taking a number of steps to help small 

businesses access the productivity and marketing tools of mobile 

broadband. The new Mobility Fund, which was established as part 

of our universal service reform, will spur the build-out of advanced 

mobile networks in unserved rural areas. We are working tirelessly 

to free up more spectrum for mobile broadband. The incentive auction legislation that Congress passed recently is a very important 

step forward. We are identifying other areas where we can remove 

regulatory barriers on spectrum use to free up spectrum for mobile 

broadband, and we are working closely with NTIA on new strategies to free up more government spectrum for commercial mobile 

broadband. We have also freed up a very significant amount of unVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:21 Jan 09, 2013 Jkt 077559 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\A559.XXX A559

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licensed spectrum on the market, which is an important platform 

for innovation for small businesses. 

And we can help small businesses not only by making sure they 

have access to broadband, but also helping ensure they have the 

basic digital skills to use online resources and applications. That is 

why the FCC, working with the Small Business Administration, 

created a public-private partnership to leverage SCORE, SBA’s network of more than 10,000 volunteer business counselors to provide 

broadband tools, training, and support for small businesses. 

We are working with the industry to address the digital divide. 

Connect to Compete is a new public-private partnership program 

that will help families with children on school lunch programs get 

low cost broadband for under $10 a month. 

Working with the Small Business Administration, the Chamber 

of Commerce, the National Urban League and private companies, 

we also are addressing cyber security and public safety issues in 

this area which is important for trust and security. We developed 

a cyber security tip sheet and small business cyber planner, describing a number of common sense steps that small businesses can 

take to improve their security. We worked with ISP to develop 

steps, including a botnet code of conduct that now 90 percent of all 

ISPs are putting in place to address cyber security concerns, which 

have a particularly negative impact potentially on small businesses. 

Through our public safety responsibilities, the Commission also 

aids small businesses. The recent storm that caused significant 

power and communications outages in the Mid-Atlantic region cost 

small businesses and consumers severely and knocked out vital 

emergency communications. The FCC coordinated with FEMA and 

others to assess and respond to the outages, and immediately after 

restoration we launched an investigation into the Mid-Atlantic outages so that we can better avoid these problems in the future. We 

are now expanding that investigation to seek public comment from 

a broad set of stakeholders with the goal of identifying the necessary steps to make our communications and emergency services 

nationwide reliable and resilient. 

We take seriously the directives of the President and Congress 

to minimize the impact of our rules on small businesses. We always 

consider the impact on small businesses, and we have eliminated 

many regulations that are unnecessary, and we have exempted 

small businesses from many requirements that we do have. 

Spurred by small businesses, we have had a lot of good news in 

our broadband sector in the last three years. The chairman and the 

ranking member mentioned some of them. The apps economy, 

which is largely driven by small businesses, has already created 

nearly half a million jobs around the country. 

For all our progress, there are still real challenges ahead, including the spectrum crunch, which the chairman mentioned that 

threatens to stifle mobile innovation and commerce; the need to 

drive continued improvements in broadband speeds and capacity; 

and the broadband adoption gap, the digital divide that leaves tens 

of millions of customers out of reach of small businesses. 

I look forward to working with the members of this committee 

on all of these issues and to answering your questions. 


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Chairman GRAVES. Thank you, Chairman. 

Our next witness is The Honorable Jonathan Adelstein, the administrator of Rural Utility Service at the United States Department of Agriculture. He was confirmed in July of 2009. He is the 

17th administrator of the RUS. In his role, he oversees a $60 billion portfolio of rural electric, water, and telecommunications infrastructure lines. Thank you for being here, Administrator. We appreciate it. 

STATEMENT OF JONATHAN ADELSTEIN 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member 

Vela ́zquez and members of the Committee. We appreciate the opportunity to testify on an issue of such high priority—expanding 

broadband access. 

I am especially thrilled to join my friends, Chairman Julius 

Genachowski and Administrator Larry Strickling. Over the last 

several years we have really been partners in building out 

broadband as far and wide as we can in this country to carry out 

the president’s vision of connecting all Americans no matter where 

they live to next generation broadband networks. I congratulate the 

Chairman for moving on USF reform as he indicated. Having tried 

during my time on the Commission, I know it is no easy feat. I look 

forward to continuing to work together as that process moves forward. 

We share a common goal amongst us of maximizing Americans’ 

access to broadband. This administration, including USDA, has 

made historic investments resulting in stronger rural communities 

and a stronger rural economy. In this effort, RUS is America’s infrastructure bank, but also the first and longest serving, having 

brought rural electrification to the countryside and continuing to 

today’s technology challenge, getting broadband out. The $60 billion loan portfolio represents key investments in the 

foundation of rural America’s future prosperity, its utilities networks. The small business and cooperative models work very efficiently to deliver utility services. Our U.S. telecom programs are 

available to any service provider, large or small, but it turns out 

that the vast bulk of our private sector borrowers are, in fact, small 

businesses serving small communities. They, in turn, provide 

broadband to small businesses, and they also use a network of 

technology and service vendors who themselves are also often small 

businesses. This virtual cycle, I think, really exemplifies public program seeding private sector growth. 

Our U.S. borrowers are pillars of their communities. They lead 

local and regional economic development. I know you are familiar 

with them in your districts. You have seen the kind of work that 

they do. Businesses they help to spawn are often also financed by 

our sister agency, USDA’s rural business service, which provides 

loans and grants for them to develop. 

A big challenge faces all of us on this panel. America’s appetite 

for bandwidth and speed is exploding. As you noted, Mr. Chairman, 

in your statement, as the Internet becomes more mobile and more 

video-intensive, businesses are using the Internet in new and innovative ways to create jobs, markets, and wealth, and we have all 

worked very hard to try to keep up with the bandwidth demands 


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that are growing and ahead of our foreign competitors to keep high 

wage jobs here at home. We need to meet the escalating demands 

for commercial and public safety communications. 

Bandwidth benefits rural areas in especially profound and many 

different ways. It erases the disadvantages of density and distance. 

It opens new markets for small and large businesses. It connects 

our kids to advanced education and gives everyone access to expert 

medical advice and treatment via telemedicine. 

Since 1949, my agency, RUS, has invested more than $22 billion 

in rural telecom systems, and our current outstanding balance exceeds $4 billion and it is growing rapidly with Recovery Act 

projects as they come online. And those RUS Recovery Act projects 

will provide broadband to nearly 7 million people; 364,000 businesses, many of them small businesses; and 32,000 anchor institutions, like schools and libraries and hospitals. These projects are on 

track and on schedule. 

We provide affordable financing to capital-intensive projects, but 

we also provide engineering standards, careful scrutiny, and continuing oversight. Our U.S. programs have created jobs and economic opportunity and provided I think an excellent value to the 

American taxpayer. As a matter of fact, our largest telecommunications program operates with no federal budget authority. We pay 

back virtually every dime. Our ability to lend is linked to the availability of reliable sources of revenue, and the willingness of the private sector to invest, because after all, we are their partner but it 

is the private sector that makes these decisions. 

And those revenues come from three sources: customer charges, 

payments among service providers, and universal service support. 

Private sector investment depends on the predictability and sufficiency of those revenues. And while the FCC’s USF reform effort 

remains a work in progress, we are pleased the FCC is trying new 

approaches to further close rural coverage gaps in areas served by 

larger carriers that have not had the benefit of universal service 

and RUS in the past. Much like our considerably smaller Community Connect program and elements of the Recovery Act, the FCC’s 

new Connect America Fund infuses new capital to support 

broadband expansion. 

As we move to reform the system, we face the challenge of preserving and advancing the gains already achieved. RUS is the most 

successful role model in charting investments that have delivered 

real and significant gains and real broadband expansion. Each loan 

or grant is highly scrutinized by RUS staff, both in Washington 

and in the field and across the country. Each delivers broadband 

as promised. 

Every RUS dollar has a name and address on it. We know where 

the dollars are invested, and we do not want to spend a penny 

more than necessary. Our approach is long-term and focused on 

building it right the first time. 

Broadband not only improves the quality of life for rural Americans; it lifts the entire U.S. economy and spurs unparalleled economic development opportunities. It allows us to in-source jobs, 

rather than outsource them. Expanding broadband service makes 

our nation stronger, more connected, and truly more united. 


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Thank you for your leadership on promoting broadband in small 

businesses, and I look forward to any questions you might have. 

Chairman GRAVES. Thank you, Administrator. 

Our final witness is The Honorable Lawrence Strickling, the assistant secretary of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Commerce. He was confirmed in June of 2009 and directs the agency responsible for advising the president and executive branch on telecommunication and 

information policy. Thank you for being here. 

STATEMENT OF LAWRENCE E. STRICKLING 

Mr. STRICKLING. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I would also 

like to acknowledge Ranking Member Vela ́zquez and other members of the Committee. And I thank you for the invitation to testify 

today regarding NTIA’s work to expand and strengthen broadband 

access to small businesses. I also am pleased to be here with Chairman Genachowski and Administrator Adelstein, who have been 

long-term partners with us as we move toward accomplishing these 

goals. 

Expanding the availability and adoption of broadband in America 

is a key element of building the innovation economy of the future. 

In the near term, investments and broadband infrastructure help 

create jobs and grow businesses through the construction of fiber 

optic networks, wireless towers, and other high-tech components. 

And our Recovery Act funded public computer centers and sustainable broadband adoption initiatives provide much needed job training for out-of-work Americans. 

In the longer term, expanding broadband access and adoption facilitates economic growth and innovation, especially for small businesses, and lays a foundation for long-term economic development 

in communities throughout the country. The positive impact of 

broadband on the economic health of small business is clear. A 

2010 report by the Small Business Administration found that 

Internet plays an integral role in helping small businesses achieve 

their strategic goals, improve competitiveness and efficiency, and 

interact with customers and vendors. 

Surveys of small businesses confirm that they find high speed 

Internet as essential to their business as other basic services, such 

as water and electricity. The research firm Strategic Networks 

Group has collected data from more than 15,000 U.S. businesses 

and found that while broadband accounts for approximately 20 percent of new jobs across all businesses, it is responsible for 30 percent of new jobs in small businesses. 

Our most important initiative at NTIA to improve broadband capabilities for small businesses is the broadband grant program created by the Recovery Act. We have provided $4 billion in grants to 

230 recipients to expand broadband availability and adoption in 

the United States. About 20 percent of our grant recipients, representing nearly 800 million in grant dollars, are small businesses. 

To date, all of our grantees have deployed or upgraded more than 

57,000 miles of broadband infrastructure. They have connected 

more than 8,000 community anchor institutions to high speed 

broadband service. They have installed more than 33,000 

workstations in public computer centers. They have provided more 


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than 7 million hours of technology training to approximately 2 million users. And they have funded more than 4,000 jobs in the second quarter of fiscal year 2012. 

To give you an example of how a small business is serving its 

community through one of our grants, let me describe Show Me 

technologies in Missouri. Show Me is using nearly $27 million of 

Recovery Act funds to deploy 500 miles of new fiber, completing a 

1,400 mile network across 30 counties in the south and central 

parts of the state. It is already providing new or upgraded service 

to 48 community anchor institutions in Missouri, such as schools, 

libraries, and courthouses. In Ohio, another small business, Com 

Net, is using its $30 million of Recovery Act funds to install about 

700 miles of high capacity fiber in its network in 28 western counties of the state. And this project hopes to serve more than 800 

community anchor institutions. 

Our requirement of open access to Recovery Act funded networks 

is helping to prime the pump for additional investment by public 

and private entities, including many small businesses. Recipients 

have already entered into nearly 400 interconnection agreements 

with third-party providers, which will reduce their costs of bringing 

last mile service directly to homes and businesses. For example, 

the Massachusetts Broadband Institute has already signed agreements with several last mile providers, including Crocker Communications, a small women-owned telecommunications provider in 

Greenfield, Massachusetts. And the town of Leverett says it wants 

to invest $3.6 million in the last mile fiber-to-the-home network 

that will utilize the middle mile facilities funded by NTIA. 

NTIA is also helping small businesses by expanding public computer centers, which provide training that can help individuals find 

jobs, create new businesses, and impact their local economies. For 

example, public computer centers in West Virginia and Missouri report that people are using their NTIA-funded centers to start and 

manage their own small businesses, and the job training provided 

by the California Emerging Technology Fund has helped over 1,000 

people find jobs. 

These examples are just a few of the small businesses that are 

benefitting from our broadband investments, and as we perform 

our mission to expand broadband access and adoption, we expect 

small businesses, the engine of our economy, to be a particular beneficiary of the innovation economy of the future and the new and 

better jobs it will create for all Americans. 

So I thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today, 

and I look forward to your questions. Thank you. 

Chairman GRAVES. Thank you very much, Mr. Strickling. And 

we will start with questions today, and I am going to lead off with 

Mr. Tipton. 

Mr. TIPTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Last November, the FCC reported the 7th Broadband Progress 

Report and Order on Reconsideration that about 100 million Americans still do not have broadband in their homes. This is about a 

third of our population and it is extremely troubling, especially in 

light of the fact that the U.S. is now competing in a global economy. 


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In Colorado, the state legislature commissioned the state’s firstever broadband mapping project and concluded that while almost 

every household in metro Denver can subscribe to broadband service, in the 50 most rural counties, most of which happen to be in 

my district, broadband availability is less than 80 percent. In the 

same report, Custer County in my district had the lowest rate, 56 

percent. This is unacceptable. 

The Census Bureau has reported that from 1998 to 2009, online annual sales grew from $4.9 billion to $145 billion. In his testimony, Chairman Genachowski cited a study that pointed out that 

having a broadband connection makes $200,000 a year difference 

in meeting annual revenues for businesses. Unfortunately, in Colorado, many of the areas where unemployment is at the highest also 

have the least amount of broadband connectivity. 

This is more than just a coincidence. We must now ensure that 

resources are made available outside of the suburban areas so that 

we can get this broadband access into rural American communities, 

thereby increasing opportunities for small businesses and to be 

able to create jobs. 

Given some of the budgetary limitations that we have in order 

to accomplish this, I believe we must think outside the box. And 

to that end, Chairman, I would like to encourage you to enact 

guidelines that provide for private investments into expanding the 

rural broadband access, in conjunction with more efficiently using 

some of the taxpayer funds that we currently have through the 

FCC to better serve some of these broadband needs. 

Chairman, thank you for being here. I would like to ask you a 

couple of questions in regards to actually being able to deliver service. In La Plata County and Montezuma County in my district they 

are known as orphan counties and part of the Albuquerque designated markets, which falls under the FCC. Because of their location and distance, we are not able to receive Colorado Television. 

Do you think it is important for residents of the state to also receive weather emergency and sporting programs from the same 

state that they reside in? And if so, would you pledge to be able 

to work with me today to be able to assist bringing these Colorado 

communities in their entirety into that spectrum? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Yes, first of all, thank you for the focus in 

your initial comments on both the important needs to address 

broadband deployment gaps and broadband adoption gaps. I agree 

with what you said. We are focused on it. 

With respect to broadcast television, I think we saw recently in 

the weather situation that we had in this area that all forms of 

communications to consumers are incredibly important. In any disaster, some will go down; others will stay up. And so making sure 

that whether it is by TV, radio, the Internet, a mobile broadband, 

consumers are connected. Both for our economy and for public safety it is vitally important, and I look forward to working with you 

on the issue. 

Mr. TIPTON. Great. I certainly appreciate that. And, you know, 

you did speak to public safety. Recent legislation was put in place 

and we had several test markets. In the state of Colorado we had 

in Adams County where they were putting in their own public safety broadband systems. And as you know, the FCC granted waivers 


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for these systems to use 700 megahertz spectrum. There now appears to be some question as to whether this early deployment of 

the public safety broadband networks will be allowed to be able to 

move forward. And I understand that NTIA has asked that you terminate these thinning waiver applications. Do you continue to believe the state and the FCC order granting public safety waivers 

that these projects serve as test beds and can provide valuable lessons as we work toward deploying this national network? And additionally, do you believe that the interoperability commitments 

made by the waiver guarantees can be leveraged to be able to ensure that these systems will be interoperable and integrated into 

the national network? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. We are working closely with NTIA on these 

issues. Congress, of course, in its incentive option law also, to its 

credit, finally funded a national interoperable mobile broadband 

public safety network for first responders. It is a very important 

thing. It directed the creation of a single network and so now we 

are implementing that law. We are working closely with NTIA on 

the waiver situations to make sure that we support the goals of the 

legislation and get one network up and running, while also recognizing circumstances in particular areas. Of course, we are looking 

at the one that you mentioned to make sure that we act in an appropriate way, consistent with the public interests and consistent 

with the law. 

Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Adelstein, real quickly, you mentioned the 

ARRA program and 3.5 billion in broadband loans, grants, and 

guarantees had gone out. Can you tell us how much of that actually went into rural America? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. Yes. Virtually all of it went into rural America. 

We have 2 billion under contract and the law permitted up to 75 

percent to be rural, 25 percent nonrural, but virtually all of our 

projects were in rural areas. 

Mr. TIPTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Genachowski, the FCC has provided the U.S.F. waiver process for small carriers but many carriers believe the process is burdensome and too restrictive. Could you please walk us through the 

waiver process and the documents required of applicants and also 

have you taken the concerns of these providers? Did you consider 

them when you were considering how the waiver was designed? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Yes. And thank you for that question. It has 

been widely recognized for some time that the Universal Service 

Fund needed to be reformed from telephone to broadband, from inefficient to efficient. As we were doing those reforms we had three 

goals in mind. One was finally getting broadband to unserved 

areas. A second was being fiscally responsible and cognizant of the 

consumers and small businesses paying money into the fund. And 

the third is recognizing business realities on the ground. And we 

created the waiver process because we recognize that reform is 

challenging and that specific situations would come up. And of 

course, we are paying close attention to those waiver requests. 

In general, what is required in the waiver request is the basic 

financial information that we would need, similar to what Administrator Adelstein said to evaluate a waiver request to make sure 


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that money is going where it should be going; that money is not 

being wasted. We have 8 waiver requests now. We are taking those 

very seriously, but we are also focusing on the consumers and 

small businesses paying into the fund. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Did you hear those concerns from small carrier? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Yes. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. That were restricted? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. The concerns are what led us to create the 

waiver process, and now we are working very closely with the carriers to make sure that we have a waiver process that is both efficient and least burdensome as possible. We are also making sure 

that we are protecting the money that is in the fund. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Okay, I have to share with you that we have 

been contacted by a lot of those small carriers expressing concerns 

that the process is quite burdensome. 

Mr. Adelstein, RUS generally will not award a loan to an entity 

to compete with an existing RUS borrower, mainly to protect that 

borrower and to protect their ability to repay the loan. So my question is, is it fair for RUS to subsidize a competitor to an existing 

provider? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. We do our best to focus on our funding where 

there is not an existing provider. As a matter of fact, Congress provided in the Farm Bill 2008 some very clear guidelines to limit any 

overlap. Occasionally, broadband does not follow neat lines and 

there are times when in order to have adequate revenues in order 

to repay a loan, a network will go through an area that may be 

partially covered, but that is in order to enable them to finance to 

those areas that do not have broadband, the more rural areas. 

Some providers will stop at the town line and will not make it out 

to rural areas and as they are building out their network with our 

loan they may include the town in order to make that work financially. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. You know, this is an issue that has been raised 

by the inspector general where it shows that almost 31 percent of 

the agency loans served to foster competition in some areas that 

are already being served. 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. The inspector general report concerned statutory 

requirements from 2002. Actually, we have closed out all of the 

concerns that were raised by the IG. Under this administration we 

put the program on hiatus while we evaluated to ensure that it 

was going to the most rural parts of the country. During the pendency of the Recovery Act, we did not do any loans under it, and so 

far we have not done a number of loans, and none of them came 

under the IG’s purview. So we have actually closed out that IG 

audit and have addressed each of the concerns that were raised by 

the IG back in 2005. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Okay. Mr. Strickling and Mr. Adelstein, is it not 

only fair that before awarding any broadband loan or grant money, 

RUS and NTIA should provide a reasonable opportunity for existing providers to present data to demonstrate that in the areas already served? 

Mr. STRICKLING. Absolutely. In the two rounds of funding that 

we did in 2009 and 2010, we provided carriers or anyone else exactly that opportunity. 


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Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. So you do that now? 

Mr. STRICKLING. We have not given a grant since September 30, 

2010. That was the deadline under the Recovery Act to make all 

grants. 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. And we also gave all carriers the opportunity to 

publicly announce where they were providing service, if there was 

any overlap. We did not just take their word for it though. We sent 

our general field representatives and our field staff in to double 

check to make sure there was not broadband there. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. And this is the process for anyone? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. Yes. Yes, and going forward we have adopted 

that model for our broadband program that I talked about. We had 

a hiatus so that we have now the opportunity for individuals to 

contact us regarding any potential overlapping service areas. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Mr. Genachowski, special access remains an 

issue important to small carriers. It is also one that the FCC hesitates—if I can describe it that plain—to take action on. So a March 

2011 report found that special action pricing—if special access is 

provided, prices come down and it will stimulate the economy and 

create close to 100,000 jobs. Can you tell me why the FCC is not 

overhauling the rules governing special access? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Well, this is an important area. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. It is important. The process started in 2005 and 

still has not gone anywhere. 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. It has been going somewhere. We initiated a 

voluntary data request some time ago. That data is in. We are 

moving forward together with our colleagues now on the next level 

of understanding the situation and moving forward. What drives us 

is exactly what you said and I agree with it. For small businesses, 

where a lack of competition is leading to increased prices, that has 

real negative effects on our economy. The challenge is distinguishing between the areas where there is competition and the 

areas where there are not, and that is the work we need to do in 

terms of compiling data and then acting. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. And so in terms of the foreseeable future, when 

do you think you are going to be acting on special access? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. We expect to take the next step in the next 

weeks. We are working hard at it and it is toward the top of our 

agenda. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Special weeks? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Several weeks. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Several weeks? Okay. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman GRAVES. Mr. Landry. 

Mr. LANDRY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman Genachowski, I am really concerned about the impact 

of USF reforms on small carriers. In making these reforms, is it 

possible that investments by some of these small carriers that were 

made in 2010 or before under the prior rules are not—that those 

investments that they made in 2010 or prior, could they be penalized for those investments today? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. The challenge we have relates to the discussion topic before. Historically, the program we inherited did provide 

funding in areas where there were a number of different companies 


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receiving federal subsidies or provided subsidies to a company 

where there was an unsubsidized competitor. And it was an element of our reform to reduce that by phasing it out over time so 

that we could use that money. 

Mr. LANDRY. So it is possible that some of the investments that 

they made under the prior rules, now that you changed the rules 

could affect their investment now? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. It is possible. 

Mr. LANDRY. Could it put them out of business? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. I do not think so, and we are working with 

the carriers on this transition. 

Mr. LANDRY. And like which way are you working with them? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. We set up a waiver process that was mentioned before. We are being cognizant of business realities on the 

ground, and we are working very hard to get the balance right between being trustees of the public money that is being spent and 

recognizing the business realities on the ground. 

Mr. LANDRY. Well, let me ask you this question. This waiver 

process that you spoke about earlier, what do you think it would 

cost a small carrier to go through the process? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. I would not estimate—I could not estimate 

the cost. I would be happy to follow up with you. 

Mr. LANDRY. I mean, $10, $20, $30? Or thousands of dollars? Or 

tens of thousands of dollars? Or hundreds of thousands of dollars? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. I hesitate to make that recommendation. 

These are companies that—— 

Mr. LANDRY. Do you think it would cost in excess of $100,000? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. I think it would cost a very small fraction of 

the millions of dollars of public money that they are receiving, and 

so making sure that we are insisting on accountability—— 

Mr. LANDRY. Have you designed this waiver process so it is simplistic and streamlined? I mean, do you know how many pages it 

consists of? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. That is our goal. That is what we are trying 

to do. In many cases, the filings are large because they include preexisting documents, like financial reports and other information. 

Mr. LANDRY. This is the waiver process, Mr. Chairman. I have 

a company in my district that has already spent over $124,000. 

They still have not been able to complete the process. They are telling me that if they do not get the waiver they are going out of business. That affects my rural residents down in south Louisiana, 

some of whom live on a very challenging part of our country out 

in coastal areas where communication is necessary, especially during hurricane season. I am trying to understand how sometimes 

this administration comes here and says, oh, we are for small businesses. Oh, we are doing everything we can to help them. Oh, I am 

telling you, it is going to be okay. Leave us with this warm and 

fuzzy feeling that it is being taken care of, but yet this does not 

look like a waiver process that is simple. And $124,000 is not 

chump change. I mean, can you not do—and this is going to affect 

these carriers today. 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. In my experience, most of the documents that 

are submitted to us are documents that have already been preVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:21 Jan 09, 2013 Jkt 077559 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\A559.XXX A559

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pared—financial reports, other things that we need to enforce fiscal 

responsibility and accountability. 

Mr. LANDRY. Does the exemption—does the waiver process—is it 

a one-year exemption? A two-year exemption? I mean, it seems to 

me there is not a lot of clarification between the FCC and those 

small rural carriers. I have spoken to not just the one in my district but there is one up in Wyoming, I believe, and some in other 

parts of the country that are having a problem with this. 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. And I recognize this is important. We have 

received 8 waiver requests. In each case, the companies that are 

seeking waiver requests want federal subsidies equivalent to between $250 per month per customer to $1,300. And we do need to 

work with the companies to make sure that that level of spending 

can be justified. 

Mr. LANDRY. It is my understanding that your model—you used 

a model in order to implement these reforms. Do you know what 

the accuracy of that model is? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. We are committed to having it be accurate. 

That is why we have an ongoing—— 

Mr. LANDRY. But do you know what the accuracy of that model 

is? Because according to what—according to you all, the accuracy 

of that model is 62.34 percent. I did not make real good grades in 

school—I am going to tell you—I did a little better than 62 percent. 

And so my concern again is that you have put a model out there 

that basically would fail a student in high school. Okay? And then 

you created a waiver process that is unduly burdensome on these 

small carriers. Can you give us a commitment that you are all 

going to work with those small carriers to try to reduce the cost 

in the waiver process and ensure that those carriers continue to be 

able to provide services in rural areas? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Absolutely. Making sure that consumers do 

not lose existing service and that the 18 million unserved Americans get service is the fundamental purpose. 

Mr. LANDRY. If they go out of business they will not get it. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman GRAVES. Mr. Schrader. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the panel 

for being here, pretty vast panel for Small Business Committee, 

and I appreciate everyone’s testimony today. 

I would like to thank all of you for your deployment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The money has made a huge 

difference in my district. In the rural parts of my district, a small 

town in Gervais was able to connect up the fire station and rural 

school thanks to the stimulus money, and I really appreciate—I 

have got one county that is trying to connect a lot of the public providers and in a thoughtful way drive down costs. Working through 

the tough things. Working with our local franchise potential provider, too, so it has made a huge difference in a lot of Americans’ 

lives, keeping people alive, keeping people connected, and creating 

jobs. So I want to start with that. 

And in 2003, it is my understanding—I was not here at the 

time—it was a pretty bipartisan FCC. It was able to develop a 

pretty hands-off, but thoughtful approach to fiber, very pro investment, pro deployment view of fiber and resulted almost four times 


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the amount of fiber being laid than was out there before. And I 

think it takes a while to connect. That middle mile and last mile 

is always going to be the tough issues, and I know you are struggling through in order to respond to the IG report of 2002. That 

is really welcomed news. So I appreciate all that. 

I was curious, Mr. Chairman, if the FCC was going to have any 

new regulations coming down the road for fiber and you have been 

relatively hands-off but with thoughtful supervision, where do you 

see that changing? Or what are the next steps? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Ensuring that we preserve and indeed increase the incentives to invest in fiber, invest in mobile, invest in 

advanced communications infrastructure is a central priority of 

ours. Over the last few years that has been successful. Investment, 

both in networks and in applications and services, is up, and so the 

light touch approach is something that we are committed to as we 

also look at competition issues that exist that the ranking member 

mentioned and make sure that small businesses are not harmed in 

areas where there is a lack of competition. 

Mr. SCHRADER. To follow up on that, I guess from each of the 

panelists here, ways to avoid interagency conflicts. I mean, where 

does NTIA stop? The RUS begin? Cable telephone back in my district begin? I mean, how are you working through those potential 

conflicts at this stage to encourage private enterprise? 

Mr. STRICKLING. So in our case it relates to the grants that we 

issued back in 2009 and 2010, and, including one in your district, 

Clackamas County I know is one that I think you referred to a 

minute ago. And so throughout the grant-giving part of the program we were pretty much joined at the hip with USDA. In fact, 

the first round of applications were reviewed jointly by both agencies and we agreed to fund some and RUS took some to fund. Since 

then, in round two, we went our separate ways, but in that situation we focused on funding middle mile applications; RUS focused 

more on the last mile applications, again, as a way to make sure 

that we were not, in effect, duplicating our efforts on the same 

types of projects. Since then, there have been instances where an 

RUS recipient and a BTOP recipient, have been building in the 

same areas, and we have had a couple—I am not sure of the exact 

number—but there have been some incidents where there have 

been some questions raised as to whether or not we were getting 

into an area of duplication. In every one of those cases we have sat 

down with the parties and with RUS and have worked out those 

issues. And I am confident that if any of those appear in the future 

we will do the same. 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. We do coordinate very closely. I think all three 

of us have a responsibility in different areas for getting broadband 

built out, including fiber. Ninety-two percent of what we do is fiber 

build, and we are thrilled to have done over $13 million in your 

district on the Recovery Act. It really was in urgent need of 

broadband in many places through Monroe, Cascade, Gervais, City 

of Sandy. We are happy to be your partners on that. 

Larry and I talk all the time as we coordinate. We were just talking in the hall a few minutes ago, as a matter of fact, about one 

of the projects, and whenever we need to we see each other online. 

With the FCC, we regularly discuss issues that come up so long as 


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they are within the scope of what the administration can do visa`-vis an independent agency. We have a great relationship with the 

FCC and we have been their partners long before our tenure in 

building out broadband in rural America. Universal service enables 

our loans to be repaid and enables those builds that otherwise 

would not be possible. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Thank you. Thank you very much. 

Well, just a quick comment, a short answer if it is at all possible, 

even though the lines are there, there are some small businesses 

in some of the rural communities as we have heard from the ranking member and some of the others on the panel that are not able 

to access or do not access. What are the barriers to those small 

businesses and individuals? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. Well, the biggest barriers—one of the biggest 

barriers is access to actual broadband networks. We find it is very 

expensive in certain rural areas to do that. Without support it is 

not possible. 

Mr. SCHRADER. They have the access is my point, but they are 

not hooking up. Why are they not hooking up? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. I would be happy to field that. We found a 

number of different reasons that work together. In some cases it 

is cost, too expensive, and that is why we did this Connect to Compete program to find a low cost tier where that is an issue. In some 

cases it is digital literacy. Not everyone knows how to use a computer, upload information, so we need to address that. In some 

cases it is a lack of appreciation of the benefits. Oh, you mean my 

small business can actually reach customers around the country if 

I do that? And so we have adopted measures on that. And in some 

cases it is trust, which is why the security and privacy issues are 

important because that keeps some people away. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Thank you. And I yield back. 

Chairman GRAVES. Mr. West. 

Mr. WEST. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and ranking member. And 

thanks to the panel for being here. 

I want to go back to the regression analysis model for capping 

the USF support because on the 25th of April, an implementation 

order that was sent out, it was acknowledged that there were some 

errors still with that model. So my first question is does it concern 

you that we have implemented a model that we know has some errors as far as the cost, you know, capping recovery methods? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. That is a good question. We used the best 

available data, and sometimes that data is not perfect. In areas 

where errors are brought to attention, we act quickly. And so there 

were two instances where companies said, ‘‘Hey, wait a minute. 

This is wrong.’’ And we fixed that within two weeks. We understand that this does require cooperation from the companies to do 

that. But I also worry about the other side—the small businesses 

and customers paying into the fund, the public money that is being 

used. These are very important questions. It is our responsibility 

to get this balance right and insist on accountability without driving businesses crazy. 

Mr. WEST. And that is what I talked—I talked to Jeff Leslie, who 

is the president and CEO of Indiantown Telecommunications down 

in Martin County, and he is very concerned about what you just 


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talked about; is, you know, how do they make sure that they are 

operating with the best possible model out there? Are we working 

toward eliminating more of these errors? Because obviously they 

are somewhat behind on the eight ball and we do not want to see 

all of a sudden businesses that are, you know, chasing this moving 

target because we really have not solidified the errors in this 

model. 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Yes, it is important to us. We are working 

with the industries, with the principles that I laid out. 

Mr. WEST. Okay. The other concern that Jeff gave to me is that 

it seems that the caps change every year. Is that correct? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Well, we have — 

Mr. WEST. Yes or no? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Not every year. We put the benchmarks in 

place. They are settled until 2014 and we are working to determine 

the best method for the future to provide certainty and predictability while protecting — 

Mr. WEST. That is a key word—certainty and predictability. I 

think that is a big thing that we are not providing to anyone out 

there in the private sector. So, you know, when you are a small 

business owner, I mean, you need to have a method by which you 

can come up with your business plan. So is it troubling for you and 

also Mr. Adelstein? We are not providing that certainty and predictability out there for them to know these caps year to year so 

they can plan out properly? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Respectfully, I’ll make two points. One is, as 

the administrator mentioned, for years it was widely though that 

reform was necessary. It did not happen, and there was a shadow, 

a cloud of uncertainty and unpredictability, much of which we have 

eliminated by moving forward with reform. There is more work to 

do. There are people who argue that these programs should be 

eliminated completely, that the simplest way to have predictability 

and certainty is not to have the government in this business of 

helping private companies roll out broadband to rural America. I 

disagree with that, but it does raise these challenges of how to do 

this in an efficient, market-oriented way that gets the money out 

to companies in areas that need it while protecting the companies 

and the people who are putting money into the program. 

Mr. WEST. Do you feel confident with your lending practices 

when you look at this, you know, uncertainty out there, Mr. 

Adelstein, as far as, you know, the errors that are in this model 

and also the year-by-year? Does that provide you some sense of 

comfort? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. Well, certainty is essential for a lender. I mean, 

we are basically a financial institution, so we do fairly long-term 

loans. These projects are very capital intensive, and as a result we 

have long amortization periods, up to 20 years. We will give a loan 

for the life of it to enable a small business to do a large capital 

build. In order to do long-term loans, in planning we do need visibility going forward as far into the future as we possibly can as any 

private lender would. 

Mr. WEST. And that brings me back to doing a hearing on May 

9th at the Senate Financial Services Appropriation Subcommittee. 

Mr. Genachowski, you stated that Congress may have to provide a 


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capital infusion to help the rural utilities cover losses that may be 

incurred when borrowers default on RUS loans due to the impact 

of your USF and ICC reforms. I mean, are we talking about a bailout here? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. No, no, not at all. In our broadband plan several years ago we suggested that one way to accelerate the transition to broadband would be a one-time capital infusion from Congress. Congress elected not to act and I completely understand the 

fiscal responsibility pressures. 

Mr. WEST. Yeah, we are broke. 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Totally understand. The funding for 

broadband that we are providing to unserved communities in your 

state and in all the states here is coming from the program itself. 

So for the first time we put this program on a budget. We did it 

on a bipartisan basis. It does create challenging implementation 

issues as we honor fiscal responsibility, and I think all these questions are perfectly appropriate. We are working hard to address 

them. If money grew on trees it would be a lot easier. We are wrestling with the reality of the fact that it does not. 

Mr. WEST. I would be a tree farmer. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. 

Chairman GRAVES. Mr. Cicillini. 

Mr. CICILLINE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you distinguished members of the panel for being here today. 

Chairman Genachowski, the FCC has highlighted the importance 

of fiber technologies and has stated on several different occasions 

that fiber technology offers substantially more capacity than copper-based technologies. And according to a 2011 study by Pando 

Networks as reported in The New York Times, Rhode Island, my 

home state, is the state with the fastest average Internet speed in 

the country and broadband is available to 97 percent of Rhode Island residents. So part of the reason that my Rhode Island constituents have access to fast, very high quality Internet is due to 

the fiber optic network that spans our whole state, and there has 

been obviously an explosion of the fiber deployment and the number of fiber providers. And I am wondering whether you can talk 

a little bit about whether or not the FCC’s hands-off framework 

has really helped to incentivize this deployment and investment 

across the country or has it presented a challenge in any particular 

way? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. I think the light touch approach has been 

very helpful in triggering the investment that you mentioned, 

which is very important. Competition does that as well. Companies 

invest when they know they have to approve their product and 

their speeds and capacity. And we are charged by Congress to 

make sure that these markets remain competitive, but our approach is very consistent with the one you laid out, which is let the 

market and let competition drive investment we recognize that this 

is a global issue. All the topics we are discussing relate to our global competitiveness. 

Mr. CICILLINE. Thank you. And Assistant Secretary Strickling, 

thank you for being here as well. I have a grantee in my district 

that benefitted from the Recovery Act broadband grants, the Ocean 

State Higher Education Economic Development and Administrative 


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Network, OSHEAN, and it is using $21.7 million in the American 

Recovery and Reinvestment broadband funds administered by 

NTIA to build a fiber optic network that will span out over 350 

miles in length. And this obviously has huge value and benefits in 

the creation of the network, but I wondered if you would talk a little bit about what you see as the long term positive impact in communities of this kind of investment, which is maybe not immediately apparent to everybody when we make these announcements. 

Mr. STRICKLING. Sure. So our philosophy in making that grant 

and it is a good example of what we call the comprehensive community type of grant that we made in primarily our second round 

of funding in 2010, where we focused on middle mile build out. We 

expressly did not look to fund the mass market last mile provision 

of services but instead focused it on getting the fiber built from the 

Internet exchange points into communities where then private enterprise could step in and build out and serve the homes and businesses in those communities. It was part of the project in Rhode 

Island because of the high speed demands of educational institutions we are also connecting a number of those anchor institutions 

directly off of the project that is being built in Rhode Island. 

In terms of how we see this playing out, and I mentioned this 

in my opening remarks, we really think this is priming the pump 

for private investment in the sense that the government has provided funding to build the middle mile. It has open network requirements so that any provider, whether it is a large incumbent 

or a small new entrant, can get access to that capacity to offer 

their own services. And so if we have a wireless Internet service 

provider that wants to put up a tower and serve a community, they 

can do it very cheaply, very effectively, because one of the major 

barriers to entry of a company like that is getting the transport 

back to an Internet exchange point, and our projects provide that. 

So we are already seeing that. As I mentioned, I think over 400 

interconnection agreements have been signed already across the 

country with our projects and every one of those gives an opportunity to private business to step up, take advantage of this investment, and use it to provide services on their own within their community. So we see this, you know, multiplying over time as other 

companies are able to take advantage of this investment. 

Mr. CICILLINE. That is precisely what happened in Rhode Island, 

was this public investment led to a great public-private partnership 

and a substantial leverage of that investment which I think is 

helping in other places around the country. 

Thank you, and I yield back, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman GRAVES. Ms. Ellmers. 

Ms. ELLMERS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you to our 

panel for being here today. 

Mr. Genachowski, my questions are for you. We had a Small 

Business, Health and Technology Subcommittee—I chair that committee—back in February in regard to this issue because of the importance of trying to provide the broadband for small businesses in 

the rural areas. I am hearing consistently from my constituents 

back in North Carolina, they have many concerns on the Universal 

Service Fund and how that plan went forward. Can you explain to 


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us—I know we have already touched on a lot of the small carriers 

and small businesses—can you again extend a little bit more on 

how much input you received from some of the small rural carriers 

on putting together that plan? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Yes. We ran a multi-month open process 

which consisted not only of asking for written comments from all 

stakeholders, but workshops, including workshops all over the 

country, in Nebraska and other states, where we went out and 

talked directly to carriers and consumers and small businesses. So 

it is a very important part of our process, and we continue that effort to make sure that we get full input from all stakeholders. 

Ms. ELLMERS. So when you say full input from all stakeholders, 

are there instances where the agency treats different companies 

differently based on size? Have some companies been given more 

of a lengthy transition period? What kind of transition period have 

you provided? And I know you mentioned a few moments ago, you 

know, that you based these on your principles. Can you give us just 

a little bit of an outline of the principles that you are following 

when doing so? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Sure. The three core principles behind our reforms are, one, finally getting broadband to the 18 million Americans who live in areas that do not have it. Many of those people 

are not represented effectively because they are not on broadband, 

but if we can get broadband to those people we will spur our economy, help save small communities in rural areas around the country who without broadband, as you know, really have a challenge. 

That’s number one. Number two, fiscal responsibility. Making sure 

that we do not grow the overall size of the fund as we do it. 

And then third, being cognizant of business realities. 

And so I think everyone would agree that where the fund is supporting, subsidizing one company and there is an unsubsidized 

competitor, we need to do something about that. Now, of course, 

that is hard for that company and so we have an obligation to say, 

well, what is the transition? How do we do it in a fair way? But 

indefinitely, spending that money in a way that we cannot defend 

and not spending it in areas in North Carolina and other states 

where there are unserved people and small businesses, that does 

not make sense. So those are the principles that we follow. 

Ms. ELLMERS. My next question really has more to do with regulation, that by far being the biggest issue that my telecom providers and small—and the like are faced with and, you know, with 

what we have seen the explosion of business, you know, with entrepreneurs and the Internet, you know, at this point I know there is 

consideration for significant regulation. Why at this point when we 

have seen such growth, such job creation in this area of the economy, why would we be wanting to stifle that with regulation? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Well, of course, we would not. And in fact, 

consistent with the question we got before, the light touch approach is the one we are committed to. Across the broadband sector, investment is up. Innovation is up. Job creation up. So the 

story is a good one. We do have situations in the USF area like the 

one you mentioned. It is a challenge when a company says give us 

public money but do not have any rules around accountability. 

That is not acceptable. If a company is going to ask for public 


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money, it does have to make sure that the system is accountable 

and that they are spending it wisely. But in general, your philosophy is one that I think is on target. 

Ms. ELLMERS. Okay, well, thank you very much. I yield back the 

remainder of my time. 

Chairman GRAVES. Next, Ms. Chu. And I apologize for taking 

you out of order. 

Ms. CHU. Well, this question is for both Commissioner 

Genachowski and Secretary Strickling. 

There has been a great deal of discussion about how we address 

the current spectrum crunch as the demand for wireless services 

continues to grow each year. Recently, a May 2012 Cisco report 

found that wireless will account for 61 percent of global Internet 

traffic by 2006 up from 45 percent in 2011—in 2016 that is. Someone suggested that spectrum clearing should be the more preferable means for demand while others think that spectrum sharing 

is a more realistic approach given the high cost in time needed to 

clear federal agency users. What are your thoughts on this debate 

and what would create more opportunities for small business? 

Mr. STRICKLING. We obviously manage the government use of 

spectrum; the FCC handles the commercial use. And we, since 

2010, with the president’s executive memorandum directing us to 

work with the FCC to find 500 megahertz of additional spectrum 

to make available for commercial broadband uses, we have been 

doing a very exhaustive study of government spectrum. Early on, 

we found about 115 megahertz of spectrum that we thought largely 

could be cleared and made available, and that was passed on to the 

FCC and they are working on that spectrum right now. 

Most recently, a few months ago, we issued a report on the last 

real piece of beachfront property in terms of government spectrum 

that the commercial industry would like to use. It is the 1755 to 

1850 band, 95 megahertz of very important spectrum. What we 

found was because of the increased number of missions that government agencies are performing these days using wireless technologies, we have in that band over 30 separate agencies with over 

3,000 separate allocations of spectrum. And we looked at the question of what would be involved in clearing them out entirely, which 

requires, of course, finding other spectrum to move them into 

which is a challenge in and of itself. But also involves a tremendous amount of cost and a tremendous amount of time. And what 

we found in our reviews that were released a few months ago was 

that to do it the traditional way of clearing all of that band of all 

of the existing services, it would take over 10 years and it would 

cost probably about $18 billion. We felt in our role as stewards of 

this spectrum that that was too much money and it was too long. 

And plus, as I said, this is the last remaining bit of beachfront 

property, and we know that the spectrum needs of this nation go 

far beyond just another 95 megahertz that we might be able to put 

on the table out of this particular band. 

So out of that report we have recommended, and we have already 

put in process, a mechanism to evaluate are there federal systems 

that can stay in place in this band and still allow commercial providers to come in and enter the band. We are going system by system, agency by agency, in a work effort that we expect will conVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:21 Jan 09, 2013 Jkt 077559 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\A559.XXX A559

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clude by January. And what will come out of that will be a mix. 

There will certainly be services that we know we can move without 

a lot of difficulty and move the existing service into a spectrum 

band that probably would not be in question by the commercial industry in any near term. And by this I am talking about point-topoint microwave services. 

On the other hand, we have some very large scale Department 

of Defense systems that are very difficult to move but are also operating intermittently. And the question would be, well, rather 

than spending the $5 billion to move the air combat training system, is there a way industry can operate in and around that system so we leave the system in place and allow commercial entry? 

That is what we are trying to focus on in a very engaged dialogue 

between industry and the agency. So these working groups we have 

meeting involve both agencies, as well as private industry, to try 

to see if we can find an accommodation. Long term, I have to tell 

you that sharing has got to be the path on which we go if we are 

going to meet the kinds of demands that are being bandied about 

by companies and by the press as we see this continued explosion 

of demand for spectrum. We have to find a way to do this. 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. I would just add briefly a few points. One, 

the premise of your question that we have a spectrum crunch that 

needs to be addressed for innovation in small businesses is completely correct and we both agree on that. And I agree with Larry’s 

remarks. The reason we have it is something that we should be 

proud of. The U.S. is now leading the world in mobile. We are the 

first country in the world to get to scale at 4G, the next generation 

of wireless infrastructure. On the innovation side, we are booming. 

The number of smartphones around the world that have American 

operating systems in the last three years has gone from under 20 

percent to 80 percent, and around the world people are using 

American apps. 

So the spectrum crunch is being driven by huge increases in demand. In some respects it is the kind of problem we want to have 

because more demand is better than less. But it does raise these 

issues that the Assistant Secretary addressed. I think that we will 

need both of the solutions that you mentioned, clearing and sharing. It is not an either or. I agree with Administrator Strickling 

that there are enormous opportunities around sharing that are 

good for our commercial sector. Also good for federal users as it can 

be part of a strategy to reduce the gap between the cost and 

functionality of military communications equipment and commercial equipment. So I share the Administrator’s view and the Assistant Secretary’s view that this could be a win-win for everyone, but 

we also need to look at the clearing approach as well. 

Ms. CHU. So the bottom line is, we are not going to wait for 10 

years before we operate on this? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Absolutely not. 

Ms. CHU. Okay. Thank you. I yield back. 

Chairman GRAVES. Ms. Herrera Beutler. 

Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I am 

going to follow up on some questions, comments that Mr. West 

made about the regression analysis. And this is both for Mr. 

Adelstein and Mr. Genachowski. Am I saying it right? I apologize. 


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And I have to belabor this because I think folks in my district— 

I think of Dale Merten, who is the COO of Toledo Telephone, and 

some of the challenges they are facing with regard to certainty on 

the regression analysis. 

So Mr. Adelstein is sitting right—a couple seats down from you, 

Mr. Genachowski. How would you advise him and other lender 

companies in this—who are in this space about how to forecast the 

risk of long-term loans in the face of caps that change almost annually and ways that really have not been made clear? And that is 

kind of the guts of that 650 signatory letter that went to you last 

week. 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. And I would say it is to continue to work 

with us, and we are working together to increase certainty and predictability so we can get broadband to unserved areas, ensure continued service in existing areas, and honor fiscal responsibility. 

And importantly, preserve the program. This is a program that 

some would eliminate. And for some people it is hard to understand why public money would be used to support private companies. 

Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. And let me jump in on that because I 

think you are right. In terms of mission, yeah, we all want to get 

there. It is how we do it and making sure we do no harm in the 

process. I am talking about small telephone companies who are 

doing this currently or who have received USDA loans to put infrastructure in who now are saying we will not be able to survive. And 

it is not profitable. No one is going to cover this area, right? And 

that is what we are talking about. Who is going to cover those 

areas that are unsearchable? 

I guess I would also, ask to Mr. Adelstein, are you comfortable 

sitting here today that you know how to project the FCC’s caps? 

How the FCC’s caps may change each year? And if not, Mr. 

Genachowski, are you going to make sure that Mr. Adelstein has 

that capability ASAP? So I guess it is a two-parter. 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. Well, as I mentioned to Mr. West, we do longterm analysis in terms of the revenues in order to justify a loan. 

Generally, we do a five-year analysis so we need to take into account what the regression impacts would be. We do have visibility 

in 2014 but not beyond. I think it is helpful for borrowers to have 

some kind of a stop-loss consistent with the no flash approach the 

chairman has talked about. He has already made a change in the 

regression analysis to phase it in more slowly. I think some type 

of way of making sure that we knew going forward what those 

changes might be so that we could loan into them would give us 

additional visibility. 

Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. So you are saying you are comfortable 

then projecting out, even if these accounts are changing year to 

year, you are comfortable with that? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. Well, we are working with the FCC on it now. 

Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. So you are not quite there yet? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. Well, we are still in the process of figuring out 

exactly what the long-term revenues would be in order to make a 

loan. I mean, we are going through a number of loan packages 

right now that were pending when the FCC order came out, and 

we asked those borrowers, those potential borrowers to resubmit 


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their loan materials based on what the FCC order was. So we are 

working through those now. 

Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. It is interesting you say that because the 

more I think about it, it was not a grant; it was a loan that this 

company got. And they are considering not cashing the check in all 

honesty because here on one hand they are being told go for it. Let 

us do it. Here is the build out. On the other hand, they are looking 

at this new proposal saying do you want us to just go bankrupt on 

this loan? I mean, how are we supposed to manage? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. We have 36 million in loans we have done in 

your district alone since I have become administrator, and it is I 

think an enormous amount to build out broadband to every corner 

of your district, and that is what our mutual goal is. So we are 

working with the FCC to make sure that we can continue to build 

out those projects consistent with the fiscal responsibility that the 

chairman talked about. 

Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. Thank you. And I yield back. 

Chairman GRAVES. Mr. Richmond. 

Mr. RICHMOND. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and ranking member, 

and the distinguished panel. 

Mr. Strickling, I will start with you and maybe you can help me 

with something, especially as my friend and colleague from Louisiana raised issues about his rural district and the lack of 

broadband access and how it affects education and small businesses and the rural areas. Our governor returned $80 million to 

the federal government that would have provided over 900 miles of 

cable and linked our universities, and I think the question was 

whether that would compete with private companies. And I would 

like to get your opinion on that and anyone who would offer an 

opinion on how we are potentially competing with private businesses. 

Mr. STRICKLING. Yes. So the grant you are referring to in Louisiana was a grant that we felt was a very important one that we 

awarded at the time we did it based on the showing that was made 

to us of the lack of broadband facilities in vast parts of Louisiana. 

The grant applicant, which was the Board of Regents of Louisiana 

State University, made a very compelling case that this would add 

infrastructure and connections to schools and libraries and anchor 

institutions in parts of the state where we understood they had 

only received dial-up, you know, regular telephone service in recent 

years. So the showing of need was demonstrably there. There was 

no question about it. 

What happened with the project was that after the grant was 

awarded the state chose to try to change the project in a way that 

was not going to deliver the benefits on which we had decided to 

award the grant. And as a result of that we felt the grant had to 

be terminated at that point in time. So it is not something we are 

happy about. We would have liked to have seen the project proceed 

as it had been proposed to us and submitted to us, but that was 

the choice of the state not to do it that way. 

Mr. RICHMOND. In your recollection—in the Board of Regents application, did they give an impact on how many people it would actually increase or provide first-time access to broadband or the impact to the state? And I will tell you as a former legislator and conVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:21 Jan 09, 2013 Jkt 077559 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\A559.XXX A559

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gressman, the entire legislature, Public Service Commission and 

people in the state were very alarmed about the application and 

the fact that the governor wanted to change the scope of the application. But do you remember the impact of the numbers on what 

it would do for Louisiana? 

Mr. STRICKLING. I do not recall, but that is an absolute pivotal 

showing that has to be made in the applications, the showing of 

need. And there was no question that the state of Louisiana needed 

this investment and would have benefitted from it. Again, as I 

mentioned earlier, our projects tend to focus on middle mile and 

then we depend on private industry to build out the last mile facilities. But again, this would have put a tremendous amount of middle mile infrastructure into very remote parts of Louisiana where 

there then would have been an opportunity for private industry to 

build off of that and offer service. I believe the potential affected 

population was quite large. It was quite a large part of the state 

that was affected by this project. 

Mr. RICHMOND. Oh, I thought you wanted to add something. 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. No. 

Mr. RICHMOND. I will not stay on it too long but I absolutely 

agree with you. I think it was absolutely critical and gave us great 

opportunity in a state that ranks at the bottom in education, the 

bottom in access to health care, and a bunch of other areas where 

access to broadband would certainly help us. To return $80 million 

to the federal government when you have a state like that troubles 

us considerably. 

Let me move on to a different question and anyone who wants 

to answer this one can. But how do you envision women-owned and 

minority-owned businesses participating in the build out of the 

broadband infrastructure in rural areas? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. We think it is very important. We did a number 

of outreach efforts before the applications were open so we ensured 

that folks were aware of many diverse backgrounds of the opportunity to apply and we continue to work with them. We really believe it is important that the kind of companies that are taking advantage of these programs reflect the diversity of the United States 

and we have been fairly successful. We have been able to get to a 

lot of remote parts of the country. We are serving 125 persistent 

poverty counties, which is a large portion of them in the country, 

and we have been able to get to school children, a million school 

children that are in areas that have school lunch assistance. So we 

really have targeted those areas I think that are hardest to reach. 

And we hope that those who build out our networks as well also 

reflect that diversity. 

Mr. RICHMOND. I see my time has expired. Mr. Chairman, thank 

you. And I yield back. 

Chairman GRAVES. Mr. Wells. 

Mr. WELLS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman Genachowski, welcome. I am sure you have discussed 

darn near everything I was going to ask you but let me just highlight a couple things. 

This impressive fiber explosion that we have been discussing 

would not be available without investment from small businesses. 

The private sector has invested billions to upgrade the networks 


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and we obviously still have a long way to go particularly in our 

rural areas. For the past decade, the FCC’s commitment not to regulate fiber services has yielded real results. Following up on the 

earlier questions, do you plan on regulating fiber optic technology 

or hybrid technology? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. No, we do not plan on changing our approach 

in this area. 

Mr. WELLS. Okay. So it is safe to assume that this less obtrusive 

approach on fiber does send the right message to the private sector 

to keep doing what they are doing? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Yes. And in fact, in the last three years, investment in infrastructure, wired and wireless in the U.S. and 

fiber, which supports both wired and wireless, is up very significantly even in a troubling economy. So the approach is working. 

Mr. WELLS. Great. Thank you. 

Chairman Adelstein, the Farm Bill broadband loan program’s 

new interim final rules that were released last March in 2011 still 

allow loans to be made in areas that are 100 percent served. Why 

right now, especially in this environment, are we spending money 

in areas that already have broadband when Congress has repeatedly instructed you to focus on communities that lack broadband? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. We absolutely focus on communities that lack 

broadband. Congress, in the Farm Bill, directed us to implement 

new metrics to limit eligibility to areas that have three or fewer 

broadband providers. So Congress in the act recognized that there 

might be some broadband there but they wanted to bring the 

broadband up to a higher standard. As you indicated in your fiber 

question, of course, fiber is key, and we want to make sure that the 

level of quality of service that is going to rural areas is very high, 

but also giving highest priority to projects in areas with no 

broadband at all. We did that in the regulation but we also have 

to make sure that the projects are financially feasible. In order to 

do that I think it is difficult to do that with no broadband there, 

but it is also difficult for a project to demonstrate financial feasibility if there is already broadband availability there. So naturally, 

our program does militate towards places that have less service. If 

it is already well served, we are not going to do a loan there because there will not be a business case to repay it. And that is how 

we have kept our default rates very low. 

Mr. WELLS. In your estimation, does the program require overbuilding in certain areas? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. It does not require it. It does—— 

Mr. WELLS. Does it lead to it? Has it led to it? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. Well, it permits some overlap because, again, 

broadband does not always follow neat lines. In order to build a 

business case it does not always make sense. Just go there. That 

is the most remote, difficult to serve, absolutely nobody has been 

there because there is no revenue. It would be enormously expensive, and there are not enough customers there to be able to pay 

that freight. So what networks tend to do is they build over a 

broader network and sometimes there will be broadband in parts 

of that network that enables it to build out to the rural areas, the 

most remote areas by having essentially a broader network in 


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which to recover the expensive costs that were incurred in building 

out the network. 

Mr. WELLS. Are there more efficient ways to target funding at 

the areas in most need? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. Well, the most efficient way is grant funding 

frankly, but that is very difficult to come by given the fiscal situation we find ourselves in. During the Recovery Act, we did have 

substantial grant money. I think we were able to get to places that 

otherwise would not be gotten to and create jobs in the process. 

But at this point I think that Congress is considering whether to 

expand grant programs and the Farm Bill is being debated. And 

there is a difficulty, as you know, in getting real budget authority 

to do that in a significant way. 

Mr. WELLS. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman GRAVES. Mr. Critz. 

Mr. CRITZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks to our witnesses 

for being here. I think it looks like I am last in line so I am going 

to throw you some softballs here. You can let me know if that is 

true. 

Chairman Genachowski, the Universal Service Fund was originally designed to ensure telecom services for all Americans—and I 

represent a very rural district—including those rural and high cost 

areas at reasonable rates. So how does phasing the high cost program into the Connect America Fund and the Mobility Fund advance the objectives of the Universal Service Fund? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. It is right at the core of updating the Universal Service Fund for the 21st century, moving from telephone to 

broadband, and then making sure that about 18 million Americans 

who live in areas without broadband infrastructure finally get access to broadband. 

Mr. CRITZ. And this is for you, again, Chairman, and Mr. 

Adelstein. Rural carriers have complained that the FCC’s USF 

award will cause them to default on RUS—and I think you said 

something about this earlier, Mr. Adelstein—to default on RUS 

loans and impact their investments. Are you aware of this? And am 

I wrong in this statement? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. We are aware that a number of our borrowers 

have come to us and indicated that they could be put in default situation. Some have applied for waivers and have indicated in their 

public filings that if they did not receive the waiver they would default. So we have heard those concerns raised. 

Mr. CRITZ. What is the solution? The waiver? 

Mr. ADELSTEIN. Well, the waiver is certainly something that we 

had requested of and the chairman included in a certain version in 

his order, so that is certainly the way that we are working with 

the FCC on these cases to prevent those kind of defaults so that 

we can protect the taxpayer funding at the same time that we are, 

as he indicated, reforming the program and moving it into a new 

direction. 

Mr. CRITZ. Well, speaking of the waiver process, reforms to the 

universal service high cost program, the FCC contends there is a 

simple $8,000 fee. Now, some of my small carriers argue that besides the fee, extra costs are incurred in order to compile the data. 

And actually, the cost could range upwards of $300,000. Is that 


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true? I mean, is this something that is going to put these small carriers at a real disadvantage? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Well, we are committed to making sure that 

our waiver process is as streamlined as it possibly can be. When 

we are talking about annual funding in the millions and millions 

of dollars, we do have an obligation to make sure that the waivers 

are appropriate and that working with the carriers to make sure 

we have the information we need is very important. 

Mr. CRITZ. Okay. As I stated earlier, I represent a rural district 

and obviously there is a lot of discussion going on now about 

Verizon Wireless and the talks with Comcast, Time Warner and all 

that. My concern always is making sure that rural America is not 

left behind and that they are given access and there is some ongoing concern on this discussion. Can you comment on how the discussions are going with this marketing agreement, or whatever it 

is, and how it impacts what we are talking about here? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. Respectfully, I cannot because talking about 

a specific pending transaction is something that I cannot do, but 

at the higher level I will tell you that certainly we run an open 

process and the concerns that have been raised are ones we are 

taking very seriously. 

Mr. CRITZ. So are you saying that as things move forward there 

is going to be a chance for public comment, public review of the 

agreements that are taking place? 

Mr. GENACHOWSKI. That is happening right now. 

Mr. CRITZ. Okay, wonderfully. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield 

back. 

Chairman GRAVES. With that, I want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today. This Committee is going to be closely 

following the actions of obviously the program and when it comes 

to expanding broadband to small businesses. And I look forward to 

working with my colleagues to ensure that their policies do not obstruct the private sector investment and broadband infrastructure. 

Obviously, this is usually an adverse impact on small businesses 

and their ability to grow. 

So with that, again, I want to thank all of our witnesses for 

being here very much, taking time out of your schedule. And I 

would ask unanimous consent that all the members have five legislative days to submit statements and supporting materials for the 

record. Without objection that is so ordered. And with that, this 

hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 3:11 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 


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smartinez on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with Insert graphic folio 80 77559A.001

Statement of Chairman Julius Genachowski 

Federal Communications Commission 

Hearing on "Digital Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small Businesses" 

U.S. House of Representatives 

Committee on Small Business 

July 18, 2012 

Chainnan Graves, Ranking Member Velazquez, members of the Committee, thank you for the 

opportunity to be here today. I'm pleased to join NTIA Administrator Strickling and RUS 

Administrator Adelstein on this panel. 

This is my first time testifying before this Committee. I look forward to discussing how the FCC 

has been working on expanding broadband access to small businesses and ensuring that small 

businesses have the infonnation and tools they need to harness the opportunities of this 

transfonnative technology. 

My primary focus as FCC Chainnan has been promoting innovation, investment, competition, 

and consumers in the Infonnation and Communications Technology sector. We've focused the 

agency on maximizing the benefits of broadband communications, and on helping hamess wired 

and wireless broadband to grow our economy, enhance U.S. competitiveness, and create jobs, as 

well as advancing important goals like improved education, health care, and public safety. 

A key piece of our strategy has been empowering small businesses. As this Committee well 

knows, American small businesses are key drivers of economic growth and job creation. Small 

businesses employ more than half of all private sector workers, and they have generated about 

two-thirds of net new jobs over the past fifteen years. And, small businesses drive innovation. 

Small firnls produce 13 times more patents per employee than large ones. 

Broadband and infonnation technology are increasingly important to the future of small 

business. Broadband connectivity and online business tools enable small businesses to grow and 

jobs to be created anywhere, in urban markets and small rural towns. Broadband allows small 

businesses to market their products and reach customers in the next neighborhood, the next city, 

the next state, and even overseas, increasing their revenue. 

And broadband allows small businesses to lower their costs through cloud-based services. 

Increased revenue. Lower costs. More profits. More jobs. 

Cloud-based services have been adopted by over 40% of small businesses, according to one 

analyst, a significant increase over three years ago. And one study found that having a 

broadband connection makes a $200,000 a year difference in median annual revenues for 

businesses, by helping them reach new markets and increasing productivity. 
31 


smartinez on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with Insert graphic folio 81 77559A.002

Over the past three years, the Commission has taken a number of actions to help more small 

businesses seize the opportunities of broadband. Let's start with universal service reform. 

Nearly 18 million Americans - including many small business owners - live in areas where they 

can't get broadband. 

But the Universal Service Fund we inherited was not moving the needle on that gap. It was 

optimized for telephone service, not broadband. It had become inefficient and even wasteful, 

sending money, for example, to multiple providers in one cOlmnunity, and none to other 

communities. It paid large guaranteed returns to some caniers, over 11 %, and it did not have 

adequate accountability, allowing recipients to control their own funding spigot. 

I'm proud that last December the FCC unanimousl~ approved a once-in-a-generation overhaul of 

the Universal Service Fund - transforming this 201 century program that supported phone 

service into a 2 I st century, fiscally responsible Counect America Fund that supports broadband. 

These reforms put us on a path to counect all unserved Americans and small businesses by 2020. 

Just last week, one provider, Frontier, announced that it will be deploying broadband to 

approximately 200,000 unserved Americans as part of our reforms. 

Our reforms will also help ensure that consumers - including small businesses - paying into the 

fund get a fair bang for their buck. FCC staff estimates that roughly a quarter of all universal 

service contributions are paid by small businesses - over $2 billion per year. That's one reason 

we've set out to eliminate waste and inefficiency throughout USF. The Connect America Fund 

puts our universal service SUppOli on a budget for the first time, and with our Lifeline reforms 

alone, we've already saved more than $50 million by scrubbing over 400,000 duplicate 

subscliptions from the rolls and are on track to meet our $200 million savings target for this year. 

These efforts are complementary to the work to ensure broadband availability by NTIA and 

RUS. Altogether, these coordinated efforts with our federal partners are helping more small 

businesses seize the opportunities of broadband. 

The Commission also is taking a number of steps to help small businesses access the 

productivity and marketing tools of mobile broadband. The new Mobility Fund, which was 

established as part of our universal service reform, will spur the build-out of advanced mobile 

networks in unserved areas. We're removing barriers to the flexible use of spectrum in several 

bands to make more airwaves available for broadband. And we fi"eed up the largest amount of 

spectrum for unlicensed use in 25 years - giving small businesses a new platform for wireless 

innovation. 

The freedom and openness of the Internet have enabled small businesses in dorm rooms and 

garages to grow into some of the most successful companies in the world. The open Intemet has 

helped small start-ups d11ve the apps economy, which has created nearly 500,000 jobs already. 

The FCC has adopted common sense rules of the road to preserve Intemet freedom and openness 

and ensure the Internet remains a platform for small business innovation and job creation. 

The Commission also has taken significant steps to help small businesses protect themselves 

from the growing risks of cyber attacks. According to a Symantec survey, three-quarters of 

small and medium businesses report being affected by cyber attacks, and these attacks typically 

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cost businesses tens of thousands of dollars. 

Working with the Small Business Administration, the Chamber of Commerce, the National 

Urban League, and many private technology companies, we developed and released a 

Cybersecurity Tip Sheet for small businesses, describing a number of commonsense steps sm'all 

businesses can take to increase their security. Password protecting your Wi-Fi router is one 

example. Working with our partners, the FCC also released an easy-to-use tool our Small Biz 

Cyber PlaJmer - to help small businesses develop a customized cyber plan. 

And as the result of an FCC-led process on cybersecurity, ISPs serving 90% of all U.S. 

residential broadband subscribers have committed to adopting voluntary, concrete measures to 

combat three major cyber threats: botnets, IP route hijacking and domain name fraud. 

Through its public safety responsibilities to promote network reliability, the Commission aids 

small businesses. The recent storm that caused significant power and communications outages 

from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic region cost small businesses and consumers severely and 

knocked out vital emergency communications. The FCC is investigating this event and taking 

this issue seriously. 

We're also working to overhaul our special access rules, which govern dedicated broadband 

connections to mobile providers, competitive carriers, and critically - small businesses. These 

rules protect small businesses from anti competitive conduct and increase their access to 

competitive offerings. 

We need to not only make sure small businesses have access to broadband - we need to make 

sure that they have tile basic digital literacy skills to take advaJltage of online resources and 

applications. That's why the FCC, working with the SBA, created a public-private partnership to 

leverage SCORE SBA's network of more than 10,000 volunteer business counselors - to 

provide broadband tools, training and support for small businesses. SCORE has been hosting 

broadband workshops across the country, and earlier this year, the Commission, SBA and 

SCORE co-hosted a broadband training event at the DC convention center, which attracted more 

than 400 small businesses. 

In addition, the FCC, NTIA, USDA and six other agencies have partnered to provide librarians, 

teachers, workforce trainers, and others a forum in which to collaborate and develop best 

practices - DigitiaILiteracy.gov. 

The Commission's Office of Communications Business Opportunities has conducted multiple 

workshops to educate small business owners on the opportunities of broadband, in addition to 

hosting networking events to connect small business owners with potential partners. 

We take seriously Congress' directive that we minimize the impact of our rules on small 

businesses, and the Commission always considers the impact of our actions on small businesses 

and limits that impact when possible. For example, we exempted smaller cable systems from 

annual spot check obligations under the CALM Act, and we gave small broadcasters a two-year 

exemption from new requirements to disclose "public file" documents online. 

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We've made real progress on broadband in the last tbree years. 

• The U.S. has regained global leadership, particularly in mobile. 

• The U.S. leads the world in 3G subscribers by a wide margin, and we are leading the 

world in deploying 4G mobile broadband at scale, with 64% of the world's LTE 

subscribers. 

• The percentage of smartphones globally with U.S. operating systems has grown from 

25% to more than 80%. 

• The apps economy continues to grow, and U.S. firms and developers continue to lead the 

way. 

• In the last tbree years, we've gone from less than 20 percent to more than 80% of 

Americans living in areas with broadband infrastructure capable of delivering 100+ 

megabits per second, putting us near the top ofthe world. 

For all our progress, there are still real challenges ahead. Explosive demand for mobile data is 

increasingly straining wireless spectrum, and the failure to make more spectrum available for 

broadband and use spectrum more efficiently will result in a spectrum crunch that stifles mobile 

irmovation and eCommerce. 

Foreign competitors are focused on the opportunities of broadband. To ensure continued U.S. 

global leadership in broadband-related innovation, and to fully realize broadband's potential to 

address key national challenges, we need to drive continued improvements in broadband speeds 

and capacity. For our innovation economy to continue to tbrive, we want to be on a path where 

we're speaking about gigabits, not megabits, 

Also, we need to keep working to close the broadband adoption gap. We have nearly 100 

million Americans who still haven't adopted broadband at home. That's 100 million potential 

customers who can't be reached by small businesses selling and marketing their goods online. 

I look forward to working with members of this committee to implement our initiatives and 

reforms, tackle these challenges and harness the power of broadband to promote the success of 

small businesses and our economy. 

Thank you. 

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Statement of Jonathan Adelstein, Administrator, USDA Rural Utilities Service 

Hearing Before House Small Business Committee 

7/18/2012 

Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Velazquez, and Members of the Committee, I appreciate 

this opportunity to discuss the efforts the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) 

Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is making to encourage broadband deployment in rural areas, and 

the impact these projects have on small business. 

The RUS is a policy, planning and lending agency that makes loans, loan guarantees and grants 

available to finance rural electric, telecommunications and water and wastewater infrastructure. 

It oversees the $65 billion portfolio of rural infrastructure loans that it has awarded. These 

investments build sustainable local and regional economies, and attract and leverage private 

capital in rural and tribal areas. 

RUS is one of three USDA Rural Development (RD) agencies. The Rural Housing Service 

offers programs in housing and community facilities and the Rural Business Service offers 

business development and finance programs. As part ofRD, RUS is focused on the entire rural 

community-infrastructure, facilities, business and residents. Together, RD agencies work very 

hard to help communities improve their quality of life and assemble the building blocks for longtenn economic growth. 

USDA recognizes that helping create, sustain and support small rural businesses are a key 

component of maximizing this growth. Affordable, available and reliable capital is the lifeblood 

of economic development. For rural America to thrive economically, it must have improved 

access to capital-particularly long-term equity financing. RD programs provide capital access, 

business-based training and technical assistance to all types of small businesses, including the 

smallest of small businesses. 

In telecommunications, the agency has two basic loan programs, which provide financing at or 

near Treasury rates of interest for telecommunications and broadband infrastructure. 

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The agency also has two modest grant programs. Community Connect provides grants to 

connect single rural communities to broadband services, offers two years of free service to 

community anchor institutions and creates community computing centers which give community 

members a free broadband aceess point. The Distance Learning and '1'elemedicine (DL'1') 

program provides grants to finance end-user equipment for educational or medical settings. 

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), RUS, alongside NTIA, was 

given responsibility to promote the expansion of broadband infrastructure throughout the United 

States. Under ARRA, RUS awarded an unprecedented $3.5 billion in broadband loans, grants 

and loan-grant combinations, investments that have a multiplier effect on the long-term 

economic prosperity of those unserved and underserved communities they reach. RUS was also 

given significant responsibility for providing $3.2 billion in grants and loans for rural water 

projects. As soon as these broadband infrastructure projects are announced, they spur businesses 

to invest in those local areas and to create jobs there, they create additional jobs as projects are 

built, and even more jobs when the networks become operational and are available to rural 

communities and businesses. 

Once all of these Recovery projects are complete, they are expected to provide broadband 

service to nearly 7 million people, 364,000 businesses and 32,000 anchor institutions. Today I 

arn pleased to report that these projects are on track and on schedule. 

Broadband investments not only make existing local businesses more sustainable, they make 

certain kinds of businesses possible for the first time in these rural areas. Ag Connections, for 

example, a company that develops crop management software to help farmers more efticiently 

manage production, control inventory, develop financial reports, map fields and make marketing 

decisions llsing technological tools was able to set up shop in Murray, Kentucky and hire 16 

employees because a rural telephone cooperative brought broadband to the area. Without the 

infrastructure to support it, this entrepreneurial endeavor would not have gottcn off the groundnot in Murray, in any event. As Pete Clark, a co-owner ofAg Connections said, "We would not 

be the company we are today without broadband. Moving out of a rural area would have hurt us 

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because our business is rural. A move would have required new investment and would have hurt 

our growth and jobs. Without broadband, business cannot function." 

Our telecommunications programs are technologically neutral. We are an incentive lender, and 

not a lender of last resort. In recent years, private lending in the rural telecommunications 

market has contracted substantially. As a result, for many rural service providers, RUS is the 

only source of affordable financing. Our loan programs arc open to large and small calTiers 

alike. Historically, smaller, independent companies and cooperatives have been the most active 

participants in our programs, and have built their systems to RUS standards. 

At USDA we value the successful contributions that small, independent rural companies and 

cooperatives are making to their communities and to the national economy. They are true 

economic development heroes. Many are pillars oftheir local communities and contribute not 

only to their economic development, but to numerous social and charitable community 

undertakings, as well. 

The rural telecommunications, electric, and water utilities our agency has financed got their start 

by tackling challenges that have eluded some of America's mightiest, best financed and most 

technologically advanced companies. Most often, they were formed because no other entity was 

willing to bring affordable services to the service provider's home town community. Rural 

service providers have stepped forward knowing the difficulty of the task, the thinness of the 

margins and the realities of distance, density and terrain. They created institutions and 

partnerships that not only get the job done, but get the job done well. They remain committed to 

the quality of life in their communities, and reinvest with the assistance ofRUS to ensure that 

small businesses and residents they served receive top-quality service that is comparable in price 

and quality to that received by their larger urban counterparts. 

Rural utility service is always very challenging. And, in the telecomm world, rural service 

providers have the hardest jobs in America. Hundreds of organizations are invo Ived in the 

delivery of rural broadband service. They are innovators and adaptors with a continuing 

commitment to deliver services that are as good as what would be available in urban areas with a 

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conscientiousness and reliability that is unmatched. They do, however, have a secret weapon. 

It's their employees. They work hard, do multiple jobs and provide good customer service. On a 

per square mile basis, they can be counted among the most productive workers in America. 

I would like to take a moment to address the benefits of the small company and co-op business 

model. I know that some "industry experts" have questioned the need for so many rural 

telecommunications providers. The conventional wisdom is that scale equals efficiency, and that 

size delivers economies of scale. While there is some truth to that in the telecommunications 

field, I'd like to offer some additional insights from my experience among rural companies about 

the inherent efficiency of smaller, community-focused telecommunications service providers that 

challenge the conventional wisdom and why consolidation, in itself, should not be a policy 

objective. 

What is often missed when outsiders consider rural telecommunications service is that rural local 

exchange carriers have achieved an impressive level of operational efficiency thanks in part to 

the institutions rural carriers helped create and sustain and thanks in part to their successful 

partnership with government agencies like the RUS, the Federal Communications Commission 

(FCC), NTIA, and State regulators. These institutions allow service providers to share resources 

and leverage revenue streams. 

Consider, for example, the complex services rural carriers receive from the National Exchange 

Carriers Association (NECA). They provide database management, rate design, settlements 

administration, compliance services, distribution of pooled revenues, fee processing and 

education to name a few. Those services are efficiently delivered by NECA, a carriers' 

conference, and not replicated hundreds of times across the rural telecommunications industry. 

Similarly other industry trade associations provide important shared services including 

affordable and effective access to training, education, insurance, retirement benefits, technical 

advice and representation. The industry also uses a network of highly specialized and highly 

talented consulting engineers, accountants, lawyers and cost consultants whose talents are 

employed on an efficient, "as needed" basis. 

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A continuing relationship with RUS gives rural utilities access to a reliable source oflow cost 

capital. And with interest rates tied to Treasury rates of borrowing at or near historic lows, those 

dollars are ready to be put to work. Not only is that capital affordable, it is available. RUS loans 

also leverage private lending and equity investment. Those affordable rates help provide reliable 

and affordable service to consumers. 

The RUS partnership does not stop with financing. RUS has helped define the standards for 

contemporary rural telecommunications services. By following those standards, reviewing 

system designs and operational plans and using vendors that ofter products and services which 

meet RUS standards, the hundreds of small companies and co-ops that participate in our program 

have a scope and scale in the marketplace that rivals the largest telecom providers. That market 

strength is further reinforced by standard RUS warranty and contract terms which protect rural 

consumers from shoddy manufacturers, unreliable equipment and technology fly-by-nighters. 

I am especially proud of the RUS staffers who provide engineering, operational, accounting and 

financial oversight. They ensure that RUS financed projects are rock solid, built to last and are 

prudent. We like to say that every RUS dollar has a name and address on it. We know where 

every penny of taxpayer's investment is spent by our borrowers and grantees and we do not want 

to spend a penny more than necessary. 

With RUS financing and collaboration with other lenders, rural telecommunications companies 

providers arc able to leverage revenue streams and collaborate to make long-term infrastructure 

investments and deliver services, which would not otherwise be possible. Broadband takes local 

markets and makes them global. Broadband can overcome the barriers of time and distance to 

create unparalleled business opportunities, deliver quality, affordable health care to rural 

residents, and help rural schools offer the most advanced physics and foreign language classes to 

students. 

Rural telecommunications providers often use the small business and cooperative models 

because they focus on service and it makes sense for the community. Community based service, 

whether in a rural community or city center focllses on economic development because it helps 

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the community grow and prosper. Rural telecommunications providers have a history of working 

with schools, business and the community to contribute to growth and stronger economies. 

For example, Triangle Telephone Cooperative provides broadband services for rural Montana 

communities that have created and expanded business operations, improved rural economies and 

helped create jobs. Among the businesses and services that have resulted from broadband efforts 

are medical centers that can offer technologically advanced services for rural residents. A rural 

cookware manufacturer can market products worldwide. Women thousands of miles away can 

purchase work pants made in Montana. Red Ants Pants, has seen its sales double from last year 

because of its ability to use broadband to market its merchandise nationwide. Sarah Calhoun, 

founder and co-owner ofthc company, has been honored as Entrepreneur ofthe Year by the 

Small Business Administration. Not only is Red Ants succeeding financially, but is active in the 

community, sponsoring music festivals to aid family farms and help rural communities. 

Web hosting, design and search services around the globe depend on a growing Montana 

company. These rural communities benefit not only from broadband services, but from the jobs 

that they create when companies expand their markets. 

Thousands of miles from Montana, Telecom Management Services in West Kentucky and 

Tennessee deliver a range of technology services, including "megasites" designed to attract large 

business--onc such site serves the Tennessee Valley Authority. Rural telephone cooperatives 

help their communities compete by providing internet services that can be used to draw 

employers and employees. Tcchnology allows business to provide jobs, products and services in 

areas where, in the past, it was not feasible. Rural telecommunications providers help ensure that 

their communities are part of the global economy. Because of rural telecommunications 

providers in Tennessee, a public power utility now offers smart grid applications that increase 

the utility's efficiency through automated meter reading and can help manage electric load. 

Without broadband buildout, many of these rural small businesses wou Id not exist. And they do 

exist because rural telecommunications companies made the commitment to build and maintain 

quality service at affordable rates. 

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The FCC is a critical partner in the rural telecommunications success of our borrowers. Working 

together, RUS and FCC policies have made it possible for millions of rural Americans to join the 

digital age. 

The big pay-off of this public and private sector partnership is that rural companies and co-ops 

create good jobs, create demand for products and services throughout the high tcch supply chain, 

empower rural businesses, schools, libraries and health care providers and most importantly help 

make rural America an even better place to live, work and raise a family. They are the most 

successful model for how rural broadband networks get built. 1 applaud the FCC's efforts to 

extend that success. 

Our goals continue to be to modernize our nation's infrastructure, create or save jobs and work 

toward rural economic development goals. USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) studied 

the economic effects of having broadband access in rural communities. The result of this effort 

was the publication about six months ago of a report titled, "Broadband Internet's Value for 

Rural America." This report concluded that employment growth was higher and non-farm 

private earnings greater in counties with a longer history of broadband availability. In addition, 

this report found key benefits of broadband access in rural communities, such as access to online 

course offerings for students in remote areas and the access to telemedicine and telehealth 

services for rural patients in need of urgent and often specialized care. Agricultural producers 

and farm based businesses rely on internet access to conduct sales transactions, marketing and 

advertising, monitor real time changes in the commodities markets and track global trends that 

impact US crop prices to stay in business. The direct benefits of broadband to the rural economy 

are tangible and significant. Specifically, rural businesses use broadband to cxpand markets and 

sales through e-commerce and reduce marketing costs. The report noted that total nonfarm 

employment growth was significantly related to broadband lines per capita. 

The report also clearly notes that areas with low or dispersed populations, or demanding terrain, 

generally have difficulty attracting broadband service providers. These characteristics can make 

the fixed cost of providing broadband service too high to make a business case for investment. 

That is also where our years of expertise with a variety of technologies have a distinct advantage. 

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More recently, the FCC's June 172011 report, Bringing Broadband to Rural America: Update to 

a Report on a Rural Broadband Strategy, noted that while there is not a significant difference 

between metro and rural markets in terms of business need for broadband, there are significant 

differences with respect to availability of high-speed options, performance and price. We still 

have work (0 do, and that is precisely why we are working with the FCC, NTIA and across the 

Federal Government to promote the speediest possible rollout of broadband service to every 

corner of America. 

Conclusion 

The RUS is proud of its investments in rural America. The small business model of many rural 

utilities is sound. This is true because of shared resources and public/private partnerships. 

Perhaps most importantly, America's rural utilities - telecommunications, water, and electricare the foundations of economic growth. 

With a combined portfolio of close to $5 billion in telecommunications investments alone, the 

RUS has a deep understanding of the costs, and challenges of distance, density and geography. 

We also have witnessed lives transformed, communities enlivened and futures secured when 

affordable, reliable and robust utilities services finally arrive to communities that have been 

asked to wait far too long to enjoy the benefits of modern life and the rewards of the digital 

economy. 

It is our mission, our passion and commitment that rural Americans should enjoy all of the 

blessings of modern technology. Not only because it improves the quality oflife for rural 

Americans, but because it improves the quality of life for all Americans. OUf nation needs the 

dedication, the work ethic and genius that reside outside our great cities. Modern broadband 

service offers an opportunity to make our nation stronger and more united. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testifY and I am happy to respond to any questions you may 

have. 

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Testimony of 

The Honorable Lawrence E. Strickling 

Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information 

National Telecommunications and Information Administration 

United States Department of Commerce 

Before the 

Committee on Small Business 

United States House of Representatives 

Hearing entitled 

"Digital Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small Businesses" 

July 18,2012 

I. Introduction 

Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Velazquez, and Members of the Committee, thank 

you for your invitation to testifY regarding the National Telecommunications and Information 

Administration (NTIA)'s efforts to expand and strengthen broadband access to small businesses. 

I am very pleased to highlight NTIA's progress in helping to achieve our vision of a nationwide, 

21 st century communications infrastructure and our efforts to expand broadband access and 

adoption in the United States. 

II. Expanding Broadband Access and Adoption Has the Potential to Increase Small 

Business Creation and Expansion in the United States 

A key element of building the innovation economy of the future one that supports new 

and better jobs, and enhances America's global competitiveness - is expanding the availability 

and adoption of broadband access in America. In the near-term, investments in broadband 

infrastructure help create jobs and business growth by supporting the installation and upgrade of 

fiber-optic networks, wireless towers, and other high-tech components. Public computer centers 
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provide much-needed training and broadband for those without access to this empowering 

technology in their homes. Sustainable broadband adoption efforts help to educate vulnerable 

populations about the benefits of broadband and enable them to become proficient in computerrelated skills. In the longer-term, expanding broadband access and adoption facilitates economic 

growth and innovation, especially for small businesses; enhances health care delivery; improves 

public safety; and lays a foundation for long-term economic development in communities 

throughout the United States. 

Small businesses benefit from the Internet economy in a number of important ways. 

Broadband reduces geographic barriers and the costs of doing business. The Internet offers the 

opportunity for anyone with a connection and an innovative idea to create and grow a business. 

Indeed, online retail sales in the United States totaled an estimated $169 billion in 2010 alone. I 

Just a decade ago, the companies that are now household names Google, Facebook, Twitter, 

and many more - were small businesses. These innovators and countless others have used their 

creativity, determination, and the power of broadband to grow the Internet economy. 

The positive impact of broadband technologies on economic growth and small business 

creation is clear. A November 2010 report by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 

found that the Tnternet plays an integral role in helping small businesses achieve their strategic 

goals, improve competitiveness and efficiency, and interact with customers and vendors.2 

Respondents to SBA's survey generally agreed that high-speed Internet access is "as essential to 

I U.S. Census Bureau, '"E-Stats" (May 2012). p. 2-3, available al: 

http://www.census.gov/econlestatsl2010/2010reportfinal.pdf. 

2 Columbia Telecommunications Corporation for Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy. "The Impact 

of Broadband Speed and Price on Small Business." (Nov. 2010), p. 20. available at: 

http://,,",,",,.sba.gov/sites/defaultifiles/rs373101 O.pdf. 

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my business as other services such as water, sewer, or electricity."} A more recent report from 

Connected Nation also shows that broadband connectivity is an increasingly essential component 

for business growth in the United States.4 It states that over four million U.S. finns have web 

sites, including more than two million businesses with fewer than five employees, and that 

broadband-connected businesses report annual median sales revenues approximately $300,000 

higher than revenues for businesses without broadband. 5 

The research finn Strategic Networks Group (SNG) collected data from more than 

15,000 U.S. businesses between 2010 and 2012 and found a significant positive impact of 

broadband on small business. Overall, small businesses report significant efficiencies, revenue 

increases, and cost savings directly attributable to the Internet, and nearly a third of new jobs at 

small businesses derive from the Internet.6 

The smaller the business, the bigger the impact that broadband can have. For example, 

broadband is responsible for approximately 20 percent of new jobs across all businesses, but it is 

responsible for 30 percent of new jobs in businesses of fewer than 20 employees.7 Data also 

demonstrate that higher speed and quality broadband technologies increase the benefits to 

businesses in the form of growth, productivity, reducing costs, and enabling innovation. 8 A SNG 

study of 600 North Carolina businesses demonstrated a direct correlation between revenue 

31d at 20. 

4 Connected Nation, The 2012 Jobs and Broadband Report (May 2012). available al: 

http://www.connectednation.org/sites/defaultlfiles/cn biz whitepaper2012 final.pdf. 

sId 

6 See, e.g, Strategic Networks Group. available at: http://www,sngroup,com/broadband-lifecYCle/strategies-forbroadband-initiati ves/, 

71d 

, Id. 

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growth and the use of broadband technologies (what SNG terms "e-solutions,,).9 Those firms 

that had most heavily incorporated "e-solutions" showed significantly higher revenues. Further, 

smaller firms with less than 50 employees were shown to be creating more jobs due to Internet 

technologies compared to larger finns.lo 

For state and local economic development oftlcials, the results are equally important, as 

broadband expansion results in small business creation, job growth, economic output, and 

increased tax revenues. A SNG case study of Virginia estimates a return in GDP for the state 

that is 26 times greater than the investment in broadband technologies, and a return in tax 

receipts that is 2.8 times the investment. 1 

I According to SNG, almost 60 percent of small 

businesses report that broadband availability is an essential factor in making a decision on their 

location. For local communities, investments in broadband technologies have the potential for 

significant returns in the form of economic activity and quality of life. 

These data reveal that broadband has become vital for small businesses in the United 

States to grow and compete in the twenty-first century. NTIA is taking a number of important 

steps to increase the availability and adoption of broadband in the United States to ensure that 

our workers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners have every opportunity to succeed. 

9 Strategic Networks Group. SNG Study Shows Broadband and c-So/utions Linked to Business Growth (Sep. 2011 J, avai lahle at: http:!;',,,,,, .sngroup.com!sng-studv-shO\\'s-broadband-and-e-so1 utions-I inked-to-business-growth!. 

101d 

II SNG Economic Impact Estimate, Professional & Technical Services Sector. available at: 

http://www.sngroup.com/wp-contentluploads!20 I 2/05/SNG-Economic-Impact-Estimate-professional-and-technicalsen ices~summar\".pdt: 

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III. NTIA Invested Almost $4 Billion in Projects to Expand Broadband Access and 

Adoption in the United States 

To improve broadband capabilities for small businesses and, indeed, the entire economy, 

NTlA is engaged in a number of important initiatives. The tirst is through $4 billion of 

investments in approximately 230 Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) 

projects to expand broadband availability and adoption in the United States. Today, about a year 

and a half into the projects, recipients are making significant progress in achieving their 

anticipated outcomes and delivering meaningful benefits to their communities. Our grantees 

have: 

• deployed or upgraded more than 57,000 miles of broadband infrastructure; 

• connected more than 8,000 community anchor institutions to high-speed 

broadband service; 

• installed more than 33,000 workstations in public computer centers; 

• provided more than 7 million hours of technology training to approximately 2 

million users; 

• generated approximately 330,000 new broadband subscribers; and 

• funded more than 4,000 jobs in the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2012. 

In all, NTlA broadband grant recipients have spent approximately $2 billion in federal 

funds and, as of March 31, 2012, nearly $700 million in non-federal matching funds, towards 

building the nation's 21st century infrastructure. NTIA expects the pace of construction to 

remain strong over the next several quarters and we expect communities to begin to fully realize 

the impact of these investments. 

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IV. Small Businesses Are Benefitting from NTIA's Broadband Investments 

Small businesses are benefitting from NTlA's broadband investments not only through 

improved broadband services and increased capacity-building and training opportunities from the 

grant projects, but also as direct grant recipients. Approximately 20 percent ofBTOP grant 

recipients, representing nearly $800 million in grant dollars, are small businesses. 12 Based upon 

our regular interaction with recipients, we know that many more direct awardees are utilizing 

small businesses as partners or vendors. 1l In soliciting applications, NTIA encouraged small 

business participation in projects as both an applicant and as a subrecipientlvendor. NTIA 

conducted approximately a dozen workshops throughout the Nation to encourage applications, 

including several workshops targeting small and disadvantaged businesses. In reviewing 

applications, NTIA gave additional consideration to projects that included small and 

disadvantaged business participants. 

Below are several examples of small businesses that received NTIA broadband grants: 

• In Missouri, Sho-Me Technologies, LLC is deploying approximately 500 miles 

of new fiber to complete a 1,380 mile network across 30 counties in south and 

central Missouri. 

" As reported in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). https:llwww.hpn.gov/ccr/default.asDX.using the small 

business size standard established by the Small Business Administration (SBA) according to the firm's North 

American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code. Notably, the majority ofBTOP awards went to local, 

county, and state government entities. and another significant percentage went to higher education institutions and 

non·profit organizations, which do not qualifY as small businesses. 

IJ NTIA does not collect data from its grantees regarding the size of the businesses they utilize as vendors or 

subrecipients. As a result, we do not have specific data on the extent of small businesses participating as vendors or 

subrecipients. 

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• In Oregon, Bend Cable is constructing a 132-mile ring of new fiber to connect 

underserved areas of central Oregon, including at least 25 anchor institutions and 

four business parks. 

• In Ohio, Com Net is installing approximately 700 miles of high-capacity fiberoptic lines to expand an existing network in 28 western counties of the state. The 

project will expand and enhance broadband for a region with more than 150,000 

businesses and 2,900 anchor institutions, and upgrade capabilities for almost 300 

public safety entities. 

• In Alabama, JKM Consulting, a small woman-owned business, is deploying 

more than 80 miles of new fiber-optics to serve anchor institutions and public 

safety entities in several east-central Alabama counties. 

• In Montana, Ronan Telephone Company is constructing nearly 300 miles of fiber 

to connect several communities to high-speed broadband, including the Blackfeet 

Reservation community of East Glacier Park, and plans to partner with Health 

Information Exchange of Montana to utilize te lemedicine to improve healthcare 

delivery for residents. 

• In Puerto Rico, Critical Hub Networks, Tnc. is providing broadband connectivity 

tor wholesale and last mile Internet service providers, and service to underserved 

areas, by establishing a broadband "bridge" to the United States mainland and 

deploying a high capacity middle mile network on the island. 

• Pine Telephone Company-a family-owned company that has built and operated 

communications networks in rural Oklahoma for nearly 100 years-is using 

wireless technology to deliver aiIordable broadband service to portions of rural, 

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remote, and economically disadvantagcd areas of southeast Oklahoma, including 

the Choctaw Nation. 

• Small and woman-owned business Axiom Technologies received funding for a 

sustainable broadband adoption project to provide broadband education, training, 

access, equipment, and support to community-serving institutions and 

economically vulnerable populations in Washington County, Maine. The project 

also will help local small businesses by providing training for healthcare 

professionals and by equipping local farmers and fishers with wireless broadband 

equipment and rugged laptops. It has also developed a software program to assist 

farmers and fishermen streamline their data collection and reporting using digital 

techno logics. 

• In Washington State, Toledo Telephone Company, in partnership with the 

Cowlitz Indian Tribe, has helped more than 300 community members learn basic 

computer functionality, Internet, and email skills through intensive classes. Upon 

successful completion of the course, participants receive a laptop and two years of 

free broadband service. 

V. BTOP "Middle Mile" Investments Prime the Pump for Additional Economic 

Activity 

The approximately $4 billion we are investing in BTOP projects will not address all of 

America's broadband needs, but it is helping to "prime the pump" for additional investment by 

public and private entities. NTIA's broadband infrastructure projects invested primarily in 

"middle mile" broadband infrastructure - the fundamental link between the national Internet 

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backbone and the local broadband connections to homes and small businesses - as well as to 

provide community anchor institutions with new or improved Internet connections at 

significantly higher speeds. 

Adequate middle mile infrastructure is a critical enabler of "last mile" broadband service 

to homes and local businesses. Investments in middle mile facilities have the potcntial to 

catalyze millions of dollars in additional private sector investment as local broadband providers 

utilize the new inirastructure to expand or enhance their own Internet service for households and 

businesses throughout America. In particular, BTOP's open access and interconnection 

requirements are encouraging other last-mile and incumbent broadband providers to tap into 

grant-supported middle mile networks to expand broadband services and speeds for American 

consumers and businesses. Recipients have already entered into nearly 400 interconnection 

agreements with third-party providers to leverage or interconnect with their networks and we 

expect that number to increase significantly in the coming months. For example: 

• In Massachusetts, OpenCape is constructing a regional collocation center for 

large and small businesses to lease space for the placement of company servers. 

OpenCape also plans to deliver direct retail services to a number of small 

businesses. They have received interest from architectural and engineering finns, 

graphics and video firms, medical firms, and other businesses with significant 

demand for high-speed broadband. OpenCapc also is working with Wireless 

Internet Service Providers (WISPs) to expand their broadband capabilities to end 

users, households, and businesses. In a second project, the Massachusetts 

Broadband Institute (MBI) plans to deliver high-capacity broadband to sevcral 

industrial parks and dozens of businesses in the western areas of the state. These 

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businesses include small machine, manufacturing, and printing shops that rely on 

the Internet for product development, sales, and marketing. By also dramatically 

reducing the cost of back haul transport in western areas of the state, MBI will 

make it possible for numerous third-party broadband providers to expand and 

enhance their services for small businesses and households. The recipient has 

already signed agreements with several last-mile providers such as, for example, 

Crocker Communications, a small and woman-owned regional 

telecommunications provider based in Greenfield, MA that itself provides 

communications and data services to other small businesses. 

• In Ohio, several WISPs plan to take advantage of the open access middle mile 

services offered by Horizon Te1com to expand their small business and household 

broadband offerings. Horizon has already signed several agreements with smaller 

last-mile providers such as Country Connections, Hocking Internet, lntelliwave, 

JB Nets, New ERA Broadband, and Southern Ohio Communications Services. 

Horizon also plans to provide backhaul to over 200 wireless towers in the region 

that will enable third-party broadband providers to offer 4G LTE services to small 

and large enterprises and households. Additionally. Horizon plans to directly 

serve 34 industrial parks that will enable new and existing businesses to expand. 

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VI. Public Computer Center and Sustainable Broadband Adoption Projects Help Job 

Seekers and Small Busiuesses 

In addition to its investments in fiber-optic and wireless broadband infrastructure, NTIA 

is also helping small businesses by expanding public computer centers and providing training in 

broadband technology that can help individuals find jobs, create new businesses, and impact 

their local economies. For example: 

• The Mission Economic Development Agency, working with the National 

Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, created Latino Tech-Net, a 

network of 12 non-profit organizations providing customized bilingual, small 

business training to Latino entrepreneurs in II cities throughout the country. This 

training includes basic digital literacy and Microsoft office software, as well as 

Quickbooks, Excel for Budgeting, E-Commerce, and Online Marketing. 

Classroom instruction SUppOlts the overall project goals of increasing broadband 

and technology usage by low and moderate income Latino families and helping 

entrepreneurs establish and expand businesses. To date, Latino Tech-Net has 

delivered more than 130,000 hours of training to more than 11,000 participants. 

• The c.K. Blandin Foundation works with the University of Minnesota 

Extension (UME) to provide technical assistance and training to small businesses 

in rural areas of the state. UME conducts training and outreach events and 

provides technical assistance to small businesses with fewer than 10 employees in 

the retail, food and tourism industries. UME also produces instructional materials 

on how a strong Internet presence can help businesses grow. To date, UME has 

held more than 170 training events involving 1,300 businesses; almost 90 

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technical assistance activitics reaching 100 businesses; and 22 outreach events 

reaching about 1,000 individuals. 

• The Vermont Council on Rural Development works with the Vermont Small 

Business Devclopment Center to provide workshops, webinars and one-on-one 

advising to help rural small businesses take advantage of online resources to 

improve their operations. Training topics include business development strategies, 

basic business website design, and social media marketing. To date, the Vermont 

Small Business Development Center has delivered training and consulting to 

nearly 1,000 users. 

• The City of Chicago's Smart Communities program created the Business 

Resource Network (BRN), an initiative designed to help local businesses become 

sustainable, profitable entities by providing them free access to broadband, 

business software, and technology workshops. The BRN helps local companies 

acquire the broadband services, computer applications, and skills needed to 

succeed in today's digital economy. Small and medium-sized businesses 

participating in the BRN first conduct a technology needs assessment, which 

helps them identify new computer resources and skills. Once they identifY their 

needs, these businesses develop an action plan and time line for acquiring 

computer equipment and business training. Busincsses then participate in 

workshops and one-on-one consultations on a variety of topics, including 

software training, business planning, marketing, and website development. 

Through December 2011, more than 180 businesses completed a technology 

assessment, 105 developed action plans, and 220 participated in workshops. For 

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example, one local restaurant owner who participated in the BRN was able to 

increase his customer base by developing a marketing plan to promote the 

restaurant's newly-installed wireless Internet network. 

VII. State Broadband Initiative Projects Help Communities Use Broadband for 

Economic Development 

NTIA's State Broadband Initiative (SBI) projects collect detailed data on broadband 

access and adoption in America, and support states and territories in their effort to use broadband 

technology to attract employers and better compete in the digital economy. In February 2011, 

NTIA released the National Broadband Map - America's tirst public, searchable nationwide map 

of broadband availability and we continue to update it twice a year. Each update is powered by 

an extensive, publicly available dataset - more than 20 million records collected from nearly 

1,800 U.S. broadband providers - that shows where broadband is available, the technology used 

to provide the service, the maximum advertised speeds, and the names of the service providers. 

It is the most extensive dataset of its kind. The Map includes data from the FCC's "Consumer 

Broadband Test" that show that small businesses have a median download speed of 4 megabits 

per second (Mbps) and a median upload speed of 1.2 Mbps,14 speeds that many businesses may 

find do not adequately meet their needs. 

The National Broadband Map is a powerful tool for researchers, economic developers, 

state government leaders, and business owners seeking to better harness the power of broadband 

to improve their communities. In addition, our SBI grants are suppOliing states and local 

14 See. c.g .. National Broadband Map, available at: http://,,,,·,,.broadbandmap.gov/summarizc/nationwidc. 

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governments in incorporating broadband into their economic development strategies (0 attract 

businesses and empower new businesses to grow and expand. For example: 

• In Utah, a medical record and health information technology firm considered 

moving its call centcr out of the state because of poor broadband connectivity, 

which resulted in work interruptions and lost productivity. The Utah Broadband 

Project, a SBl grantee, utilized broadband mapping data to identifY other 

broadband providers in the region that could provide enhanced connectivity and 

redundancy, and, as a result, the firm obtained the broadband capabilities it 

needed to stay in the state. 

• In Kansas, the SBl grantee utilized its broadband availability data to identifY 

communities with the requisite broadband capabilities necessary for Convergys, a 

customer relationship management firm, to establish call centers in mUltiple 

locations and increase job opportunities in the state. 

• In South Dakota, Eleutian Technology, a provider of English-as-a-SecondLanguage online courses, utilized broadband availability data made possible by 

the SBl program to identify communities with the necessary broadband 

capabilities to conduct real-time video conferencing. As a result, the finn has 

hired over 100 teachers in several small South Dakota communities such as 

Spearfish, Rapid City, and Winner. 

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VIII. NTIA and the FCC's Joint Efforts to Make Spectrum Available for Commercial 

Broadband Usc Will Benefit Small Businesses 

The second principal way NTIA is helping expand broadband for the benetit of small 

businesses, the public, and the economy generally is by expanding wireless broadband 

capabilities. We have been working in close collaboration with the Federal Communications 

Commission (FCC) to make available an additional 500 megahertz of spectrum over the next 

decade for commercial wireless broadband use. I5 NTIA identified 2,200 MHz of spectrum for 

evaluation, and has already recommended lIS MHz of spectrum that could be made available for 

wireless broadband use within five years. I6 In March 2012, NTIA announced that the 1755-1850 

megahertz band - another 95 megahertz of prime spectrum - could also be repurposed for 

wireless broadband use.17 We are now hard at work on the next steps toward making this 

spectrum available. 

Because of the challenges in relocating federal users - including the scarcity of spectrum, 

the complexity offederal operations, and the time and cost of relocating federal users - NTIA 

has also proposed a new path forward for spectrum repurposing that relies on a combination of 

relocating federal users and sharing spectrum between federal agencies and commercial users. 

This path offers many potential benefits, such as allowing earlier access to the spectrum by 

commercial broadband providers, making additional spectrum available due to efficiencies, and 

15 Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, Unleashing the Wireless Broadhand 

Revolution (Jun. 28, 2010), availahle a/: http://w\\,w.whitehouse.gov/thc-press-office!presidential-mcmorandumun!eashing·\\'ireless~broadband·re\'Qlution. 

16 National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Plan and Timetable to Make Available 500 MHz 

o(Spectrumj"r Wireless Broadband (Nov. 15,2010), available at: 

http://www.ntia.doc.go\!reports/2010!TenYearPlan 111520 I O.pdf. 

17 National Telecommunications and Information Administration, An Assessment of the Viability olAccommodating 

Wireless Broadhand in the 1755 1850 MHz Band (March 27, 2012), available at: 

http://,,,,,,.ntia.doc.go\/fiIes/ntiaipublications/ntia 1755 1850 mill. report march2012.pdf. 

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advancing innovation in the wireless marketplace. In May 2012, NTIA initiated discussions 

between industry and the relevant federal agencies under the auspices of the Commerce 

Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC), with the goal of finding ways to work 

together through sharing or other means to reduce the time and expense of repurposing the 1755-

1850 MHz band, while maintaining essential Federal capabilities and maximizing commercial 

utilization. These discussions over the coming weeks and months will playa critical role in 

helping tind new ways to free additional spectrum for commercial broadband use and at the same 

time ensuring that federal agencies can continue their critical functions for the Nation. 

Increasing commercial use of wireless spectrum for broadband will transform multiple 

areas of the United States economy, including small businesses creation, productivity, 

employment, consumer welfare, health care, government services, and public safety. 

Researchers estimate that increased investment in new wireless broadband networks will boost 

national income,18 significantly expand GDP growth,19 and create hundreds of thousands of new 

jobs.20 A study for CTIA (the wireless industry trade association) estimated that the productivity 

gains from wireless broadband adoption result in nearly $100 billion in annual cost savings in the 

18 See. e.g., Pearce, Alan and Pagano, Michael, Accelerated Wireless Broadband Infrastructure Deployment: The 

Impact on GDP and Employment, Media Law and Policy, (2009), available at: 

http://,,,,,",, .nyls.eduluser fi les/l!3/ 4/30/84/187 1245/Pearce%20& %20Pagano. %20SPRING%202009%20& %20Pag 

ano.%20 18%20MEDIA %20L. %20&%20POL %E2%80%99Y .pdf. 

19 Deloitte Development, LLC, The impact qf 4G technology on commercial interactions, economic growth, and 

u.s. competitiveness (Aug. 20 II), available at: http://www.deloitte.com/assetsfDcomUnitedStates/l,ocal%20Assets/Doeuments/TMT us tmtlus tmt impactof4g edited060612.pdf. 

20 See, e,g .. Crandall, R. and Singer, H., 71,C Economic Impact of Broadband lnvestmenl," (Feb. 23. 2010), released 

by the Broadband tor America coalition. available at: http://www.ncta.comfDocumentBinan'.aspx?id c 880; See 

also, Sosa. D. and M. Van Audenrode, Private Sector Investment and Employment Impacts of Reassigning Spectrum 

to },fobile Broadband in the United States, Analysis Group, Inc. (Aug. 2011). 

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United States.21 Small businesses will be well poised to reap significant benefits from additional 

spectrum for wireless broadband. 

Already, we are seeing tremendous innovation and economic activity due to increased 

wireless broadband use. For example, the surge in the development and use of mobile 

applications ("apps") is creating jobs, supporting small businesses, and generating remarkable 

economic output. A recent TcchNet study estimated that the "App Economy" (that is, the goods 

and services resulting from the growth in mobile apps) is responsible for approximately 466,000 

jobs in the United States, up from zero in 2007.22 Mobile apps already account for more than 

$10 billion in annual revenues, and could exceed $50 billion in annual revenues in the next 

several years?3 According to Apple, users of more than 300 million of the company's mobile 

devices24 have downloaded more than 30 billion apps from the App Store.25 One study estimated 

that small businesses developed more than 88 percent of the 500 most popular mobile apps.26 A 

survey by AT&T found that one-third of small businesses in the United States use mobile apps to 

save time, increase productivity, and reduce costs. About half of the survey's respondents said 

they could not survive without mobile apps.27 

21 Entner. Roger. The Increasingly Important Impact of Wireless Broadhand Technology and Services on the u.s. 

Economy (2008), availahle at: http://files.ctia.org!pdflFinal OvumEconomicJmpact Report 5 21 OS.pdf. 

22 TechNet, Where the Jobs Are: The App LConomy (Feb. 7. 2012). available at: http://www.technet.org!wpcontentluploads/20 12!02/TechNet -App-Economv-Jobs-Studv. pdf. 

23 Juniper Research. Consumer Mobile App Revenues to Pass $50bn by 2016 Fuelled bySmartphone & Tahlet 

Growth (Feb. 7.2012), available at: http://juniperresearch.comNiewpl'essl'elease php'!pr~286. 

24 See http://,,ww.apple.com/pr/libraf\"/2012/03105Apples-App-Stol'e-Downloads-Top-25-Biliion.html. 

25 See http://news.cnct.com!8301-13579 3-57450369-3 7 lapple-30b-apps-downloaded-400m-app-storc-accounts-setl!ll.i 

26 Morgan Reed, The Surprise Behind the Mobile App Numbers. Huffington Post (July 12,20 II). availahle at: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/morgan-reedlthc-surprise-behind-the-m b 895397.html. 

27 AT&T. AT& T Poll Says Use (){Tablets. 4G Devices. CPS Navigation Mobile Apps on the Rise Amon[; Small 

Businesses, (Feb. 15.2012). available at: http://w.\\v.att.com!genlpressroom ?pid·o 22394&cd, n~news&new sarticlei d~ 33865. 

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IX. Conclusion 

NTIA is committed to expanding broadband access and adoption in the United States so 

that we may boost America's competitiveness, build the innovation economy of the future, and 

support new and better jobs for Americans, particularly for small businesses which are the 

engine of the U.S. economy. Our efforts to ensure that its broadband grant projects achieve their 

intended benefits for American communities, and our work to fulfill the President's goal of 

making available 500 megahertz of spectrum for wireless broadband by 2020, are important 

steps towards achieving our shared goal of an economy built to last. 

I appreciate the opportunity to testilY before you today and welcome your questions. 

Thank you. 

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House Committee on Small Business: Full Committee Hearing 

Digital Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small Businesses 

July 18, 2012 

Rep. Peters Questions for the Record - Submitted July 25, 2012 

1) Chairman Genachowski, could you provide an update on the "Broadband Adoption Lifeline 

Pilot Program" and any details on approved projects targeting urban areas? 

2) Chairman Genachowski and Secretary Strickling, can you tell us about FCC and NTIA efforts 

to expand digital literacy in urban areas? Do you coordinate with other agencies on these 

efforts? 

3) Chairman Genachowski, will Universal Service Fund (USF) reform provide adequate funding 

for expanded broadband adoption programs beyond the Broadband Adoption Lifeline Pilot 

Program? 

4) Chairman Genachowski and Secretary Strickling, do you believe that new legislation to 

provide support for broadband adoption in the form of tax incentives or new appropriations 

could help increase adoption rates? Are there additional tools that Congress could provide 

that would allow your agencies to expand broadband adoption and digital literacy efforts? 
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Congressman Mick Mulvaney 

Questions for the Record 

Committee on Small Business Committee Hearing entitled 

"Digital Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small Businesses" 

July 18, 2012 

For Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission: 

Q: The FCC has had special access under consideration for number of years and it has issued two 

voluntary data requests that sought to obtain data from providers and customers about special 

access facilities, pricing and competition. This data is necessary to determine whether the special 

access pricing flexibility granted by the FCC in 1999 is still appropriate and warranted. I understand 

the vast majority of special access competitors had not responded to the FCC's data request. Why 

has the FCC not pursued a mandatory data request? 

Q: Does the FCC have any plans to set price controls on special access arrangements? 

Q: The current USF charge for telecommunications customers is around 18% of their bill. What is 

the FCC doing to ensure USF rates stay as low as possible? 

Q: Currently, almost 90% of Americans have access to wireless services and at competitive, 

reasonable prices. I'm also told that 95% of Americans have access to broadband from at least one 

provider. Additionally, there are a number of small business providers that are deploying these 

services without receiving support from the high-cost fund. 

1. What policies are necessary to encourage more companies to use innovative measures 

to provide cutting-edge technologies to rural or underserved communities as opposed 

to relying on government-backed subsidies? 

2. At what point do you think that USF subsidies will no longer be necessary? 

Q: I understand that the FCC under the Reagan Administration required interoperability of devices 

to ensure that smaller carriers were able to provide analog services to their customers on a 

competitive basis with larger carriers. Are the market conditions now the same as they were 

during that time? Should we be considering another interoperability rule? 

Q: WBFF 45, a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, recently reported on the Universal Service 

Fund Lifeline Program. The data referenced in the report showed an increase in Lifeline 

subscribers in Baltimore from 6,000 subscribers in 2008 to 231,000 subscribers in 2011. This is a 

3750% increase in 3 years. To what do you attribute such an explosion in Lifeline participation in 

Baltimore? 
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Q: The report said that it only takes 5 to 10 minutes for a person to receive a lifeline phone. What 

information and what steps are necessary for an individual to receive a lifeline phone? About how 

long would you expect the application, verification, and activation process to take? 

Q: The report mentioned the FCC's new efforts to track and remove individuals from the program 

who were receiving more than one lifeline phone. That is a step in the right direction. However, it 

is my understanding that it is the participating provider's job to ask whether a person seeking a 

new Lifeline phone already has one, and to obtain the individual's information and share that 

information with the FCC's database to track fraud and abuse. The report showcased individuals 

who were in possession of multiple Lifeline cell phones, received a Lifeline phone while carrying 

another Lifeline phone, or received lifeline phones only to turn around and sell them to drug 

dealers. It seems like there is a disconnect between FCC's plans to address fraud and abuse and 

what is happening at the cell phone provider level. What is the FCC doing to ensure that 

participating providers are asking the right questions and collecting accurate, verifiable data on 

individuals seeking Lifeline phones? 

Q: Since implementing your new processes for Lifeline, has the FCC been made aware of any 

participating providers who routinely are providing phones to individuals who have already 

received a Lifeline phone? If so, how have you responded to both the provider and the individual? 

Is there any penalty for engaging in such activity? 
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CONGRESSWOMAN JANICE HAHN (CA-36) 

SMALL BUSINESS COMMITTEE 

HEARING: 

"Digital Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small Business" 

VVEDNESDAY,JULY18,2012 

2360 RAYBURN 

Questions - Promoting Broadband & Fiber Deployment 

Broadband investment provides substantial benefits to consumers and 

small businesses. Thanks to the FCC's thoughtful and inclusive approach, 

investment in fiber has skyrocketed since 2003. 

In April, the Wall Street Journal reported that 19.2 million miles of fiber 

were installed in the United States compared to the 5 million miles installed 

during 2003. There are now 770 carriers deploying Fiber-to-the-Home 

around the country. 

Fiber now passes over 22.6 million U.S. homes compared to only 180,000 

in 2003. Analysts report that 8 million American homes are now connected 

by fiber and that roughly 32% of commercial buildings in the United States 

have access to fiber. Thus, we must make sure that future regulation 

continues to promote competition and foster growth as we continue to 

make these much needed investments. 

So with these facts in mind, I have a question about the FCC's role in future 

fiber deployment. 

Q: What are the future plans for the FCC to regulate fiber 

services? 

1 
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HOUSE COMMlTTEE ON AGPiICULTURE. 

W!!(;OMWrTH ON 

CONSEIWA;,ON, 1'11EM'f ANI) f('iA(Sf/W 

SU8COMMln£f ON: 

liVESTOCK, DAIRY ANO POI)! TRY 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS 'm:hc 112th ([ongrrss 

"ONO"~ G'~?E~~,::::r;"fAC "CE" ca.~. tttousc of 1Rcprcscntatiucs Stl8COMMIHH ON 

~ashington, 1)([ 20515 

July 27, 2012 

Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Velazquez, 

KURT SCHRADER 

'lflI101$TR!f.:',OneGON 

314 C,'NfJOtl BUIlOI"lG 

W~SHIN{;IO"', DC 20515 

202·225·5711 

FAA 202-225-5699 

494 STJI.H STftC[1 

Su!!£ 210 

SAHM, OR 97301 503-588-9100 

F,w 50,3·588-5517 

621 HlUrlSrRHT 

OAWO~l C!TV. OR 97045 

503·557-1324 

FA~ 503·557-1981 

I respectfully request that the following question be added to the record for the "Digital Divide: 

Expanding Broadband Access to Small Businesses" hearing that took place on Wednesday July 18, 2012. 

Addressed to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski: 

QUESTION: "The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on interoperabllity in the lower 700 MHz 

band that was issued this past March considers requiring interoperability in the lower 700 MHz band. 

The deadline for comments was June 1st and reply comments July 16th. One of the frequent 

comments I receive is the lack of certainty with FCC actions and as a result there is often an inability 

for many businesses to proceed with building out their networks to ensure they will have access to 

devices. Can you please provide the committee with an exact timeframe of when the Commission will 

make a decision on interoperability?" 

Sincerely, 

KURT SCHRADER 

MEMBER OF CONGRESS 
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The Honorable Sam Graves 

Chairman 

Committee on Small Business 

House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

Dear Chairman Graves: 

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

The Assistant Secretary for Communications 

and Information 

Washington, D,C. 20230 

AUG 24 2012 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on July 18, 2012 before the Committee on Small 

Business at the hearing entitled "Digital Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small 

Businesses." I appreciate your forwarding additional questions for the record to me on July 25, 

2012. 

My responses 10 the questions are enclosed. If you or your staff have any additional 

questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or James Wasilewski, NTINs Director of 

Congl'essional Affairs, at (202) 482-1840. 

cc: The Honorable Nydia Velazquez 

Sincerely, 

(~~!..-f'I' ........ ~~-r 

Ranking Member, Committee on Small Business 

Enclosure 
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Responses to Questions from the Honorable Gary Peters 

1. Chairman Genachowski, could you provide an update on the "Broadband Adoption 

Lifeline Pilot Program" and any details on approved projects targeting urban 

areas? 

NTIA defers to the FCC for a response to this question. 

2. Chairman Genachowski and Secretary Strickling, can you tell us about FCC and 

NTIA efforts to expand digital literacy in urban areas? Do you coordinate with 

other agencies on these efforts? 

In the Recovery Act, Congress recognized that, even in locations where broadband facilities do 

exist, many people do not subscribe to the service and therefore miss out on the benefits that 

broadband can provide. NTIA invested approximately $250 million in more than 40 projects 

that use innovative approaches to increase sustainable broadband adoption (SBA) among 

vulnerable populations. The projects address barriers to adoption and provide broadband 

education, training, and equipment, particularly to groups that traditionally tlllderutilize 

broadband technology regardless of where they are located. Already, grantees estimate they 

have provided more than 7 million hours ofteclmology training to approximately 2 million users, 

and generated approximately 350,000 new broadband Internet subscribers. 

For example, Michigan State University is using an approxhmitely $5 million grant to increase 

broadband subscribership and use while conducting training for high school students, displaced 

workers, and small businesses in 11 cities across the state, including severai urban areas. In 

Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck, the project is training high school students in basic web 

design, citizen journalism, online safety, and online business development. In Lansing, pl'Oject 

partners are offering adult leamers trahlhlg in the practical uses of broadband technology as a 

bridge to later opportunities and as a prerequisite for community college courses. In Jackson, the 

local community college is tailoring existing digital literacy curricula to displaced former 

industrial workers, training them for jobs in systems administration or network installation. The 

project is aiso serving residents through training and access enhancements in Benton Harbor, 

Flint, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Pontiac, and Saginaw. As of the end of 20 II, the project had 

delivered approximately 25,000 hours oftraining to almost 5,000 residents. This is just one 

example of how BTOP sustainable broadband adoption projects are making a difference in both 

rural and mban communities in the United States. 

NTIA collaborates closely with other federal agencies in promoting broadband adoption. For 

example, in May 2011, in collaboration with the Department of Education and other federal 

agencies, NTIA created DigitalLiteracy,gov to provide librarians, teachers, workforce trainers, 

and others access to resources and tools to teach computer and online skills necessary for success 

in today's economy. The portal now contains more than 500 resources (e.g., videos, tutoriais, 

and lesson plans) and receives more than 2,500 unique visitors per month. In the coming year, 

NTIA will continue to collaborate with partners to promote the use of the portal and acquire 

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more resources to help users search for jobs, create resumes, and locate career-enhancing 

training. 

3. Chairman Genachowski, will Universal Service Fund (USF) reform provide 

adequate funding for expanded broadband adoption programs beyond the 

Broadband Adoption Lifeline Pilot Program? 

NTIA defers to the FCC for a response to tlus question. 

4. Chairman Genaehowski and Secretary Strickling, do you believe that new 

legislation to provide support for broadband adoption in the form of tax incentives 

or new appropriations could help increase adoption rates? Are there additional 

tools that Congress could provide that would allow your agencies to expand 

broadband adoption and digital literacy efforts? 

Considering that only approximately 68 percent of Americans subscribe to broadband, there is 

clearly more work to be done to promote broadband adoption and digital literacy. In total, NTIA 

received more than 600 SBA applications requesting in excess of$4 billion, approximately 

fifteen times greater funding than available for SB~ projects. The large volume of applications 

underscores the strong demand for broadband training and support that exists across America. 

Should Congress determine to make additional funding for broadband adoption programs . 

available, efforts in thls area could produce meaningful benefits for Americans in the fOlm of 

improved job training, education and workforce development. 

Going forward, NTIA is worlcing to leverage our projects to the fullest extent possible to help 

ensure that the benefits they are delivering are sustainable after the projects are completed. 'One 

of the ways we will do that is by sharing snccessful strategies among grantees across. the grant 

portfolio. In addition, NTIA will develop, with the input ofBTOP grantees, a "toolkit" of 

successful adoption strategies to help inform future efforts to promote broadband adoption in the 

United States. 

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Federal Communications Commission 

Office of Legislative Affairs 

Washington, D.C.205S4 

Office oflllo Dilector 

November 8.2012 

The Honorable Sam Graves 

Chairman 

Committee on Small Business 

United States House of Representatives 

2361 Rayburn House Office Building 

Washington. D.C. 20515 

The Honorable Nydia Velazquel. 

Ranking Member 

Committee on Small Businc,s 

United States House of Representatives 

2361 Rayburn HOllse Office Building 

Washington. D.C. 2051 ~ 

Dear Chail111an Graves and Ranking Member Velazquez: 

Please tind attached responses from Federal Communications Commission Chairman 

Julius Genachowski to the post-hearing questions frol1lthc Committee's .lui) 18. ~012 

hearing on the role of the federal government in expanding broadband access to small 

business in rural America. Please let me know if I can be of further assistanc~. 

c 

Office of Legislative Affairs 

Enclosure 
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The Honorable Mick Mnlvaney 

HOllse Committee on Small Business 

"Digital Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small Businesses" 

July 18.2012 

Additional Questions for the Record 

1. The FCC has had special access under consideration for number of years and it has issued two 

voluntary data requests that sought to obtain data Ji·om providers and customers about special 

access facilities, pricing and competition. This c1ata is necessary to determine wllL'ther the special 

access pricing flexibility granted by the FCC in 1999 is still appropriate and warranted. I 

understand the vast majority of special access competitors had not responded to the FCC's data 

request. Why has the FCC not pursued a mandatory data request') 

Response: On October 9th I circulated an order to my colleagues at the C01l1mission to 

conduct a mandatory, comprehensive data collection order that will enable us to evaluate the 

extent of competition in special access markets and adjust our rules as appropriate. 

2. Does the FCC have any plans to set price controls on special access arrangements') 

Response: Special access services currentl) are subject to different k,·els or regulation. 

including price caps in some areas. The Commission is actively considering whether and 

how 10 modify the regulations that govern special access, and the informalion obtained 

through the Commission's mandatory data collection will enable us to move iorward. 

3. The current USF charge tor telecommunications customers is around 18°;;, oCtheir bill. What 

is the FCC doing to ensure USF rates stay as lolV as possible? 

Response: Fiscal responsibility has been one of the central principles of all aspects of our 

USF reforms under my chairmanship. Because the contribution factor on consumers' bills is 

driven by the size of the USF programs, I have focused the Commission on combating waste, 

fraud, and abuse and controlling spending across LJSF. ror example, in the Lifeline program, 

which helps ensure affordable service lor lovv-incomc families, our bipartisan relorms have 

already produced substantial savings this year. putting the Commission on larget to meet our 

savings goal of$200 million in 2012. In 2011 we acted unanimously to put the USF highcost fund on a budget for the iirsttilllc, as we transition li·om supporting phone service to the 

broadband-focused Connect America Fund. Along with the existing caps lor E-Rate and the 

Rural Health Care program, these reforms are helping limit the overall contribution burden. 

After acting to address waste and inefficiency on the demand side, in April of Ihis year the 

Commission put forward proposals to retorm the contribution side ofUSF. Contributions 

reform is part of a broader agency effort to modernize outdated programs, eliminate 

unnecessary rules, and improve program efficiency and effectiveness. Commission staff is 

currently reviewing the record developed in the USF contributions proceeding. 

4. Currently, almost 90% of Americans have access to wireless services and at competitive, 

reasonable prices, I'm also told that 95% of Americans have access to broadband from at least 

one provider. Additionally, there are a number of small business providers that are deploying 

these services without receiving support from the high-cost fund. 
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HOllse COinmitlee on Small Business 

"Digita! Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small Businesses" 

July 18,2012 

Additional QlIe~tions for the Record 

What policies are necessary to encourage more companies to lise innovati ve measures to 

provide cutting-edge technologies to rural or underserved communities as opposed to 

relying on government-backed subsidies0 

Response: The Commission is taking a number of steps [0 promote private-sector efforts to 

deploy broadband in rural and underserved communities. The USFIICC TrWlsjorlnCllion 

Order for the first time reformed the high-cost program to ensure that support will no longer 

be provided in areas where an unsubsidized provider is already providing sen·ice. This 

reform saves universal service funding that would otherwise be wasted or used inefficiently 

and removes disincentives for private-sector investment. The Commission h~lS also taken 

important steps to reduce barriers to investment through ollr Broadband j\ccderation 

Initiative, which has included landmark retorms of the Commission's rules governing pole 

attachments, tower siting, and access to wireless backhaul. And the Commission has freed 

up spectrum that can be used to deliver wireless broadband in rural areas, including through 

innovate solutions like the TV whitespaces. 

At what point do you think that USF subsidies will no longer be nccessary? 

Response: In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress directed the FCC to advance 

the availability of communications services to all consumers, including those in rural, insular, 

and high cost areas at rates that are reasonably comparable to those charged in urban areas. 

With nearly 19 million Americans living in areas that lack basic broadb~11ll1. the Connect 

America Fund is critical to satisfYll1g the mandate Congress gave the FCC and connecting all 

Americans. We have focllsed our reform efforts on ensllring that broadband is available to 

all Americans whilc ensuring the public's dollars are spent wisely and within a defined 

budget. 

5. I understand that the FCC under the Reagan Aciministration required interoperd)ilit) of 

devices to ensure that smaller carriers were able to provide analog services to their customers on 

a competitive basis with larger carriers. Are the market conditions now the same as they were 

during that time? Should we be considering another interoperability rule? 

Response: The Commission sought comment earlier this year on proposals to enSllre 

interoperability in the lower 700 MHz band, and solicited input on the role or interoperability 

in enabling a competitive wireless market. Commission staff is currently reviewing the 

record developed in this proceeding. 

6. WBFF 45, a television station in Baltimore, Maryland. recently reported OIl the Universal 

Service Fund Lifeline Program. The data referenced in the report showed an incrcase in Lifeline 

subscribers in Baltimore from 6,000 subscribers in 2008 to 231,000 subscribers in 2011. This is a 

3750% increase in 3 years, To what do you attribute such an explosion ill Lirelilll' participation 

in Baltimore? 

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House Committee on Small Business 

"Digital Divide' Expanding Broadband Access to Small Businesses" 

July 18.2012 

Additional ()u!"~slions for the Record 

Response: For more than 25 years, the Lifeline program has played a \'ital role in ensuring 

that the neediest among us stay connected to our communications networks. When this 

Commission inherited Lifeline more than three years ago, the program faced real and serious 

challenges, including rules that failed to keep pace with the boom in mobile service: created 

perverse incentives for some carriers; and. as we came to see. invited JI'aud and abuse. Since 

then, we've rolled up our sleeves to put this program on a sound path and strong foundation. 

Em'lier this year the Commission fundamentally overhauled the program by enacting rules to 

strengthen Lifeline by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse and getting rid of outdated rules. 

In recent years, the primary driver of the increase in the Lifeline program has been the fact 

that prepaid wireless companies are now eligible lor support. a decision maclc by the 

previous FCC. In fact, in Maryland. well over two-thirds of Lifeline support goes to prepaid 

wireless service providers. Unfortunately, much of the li'alld and abuse. including 

duplicative Lifeline service for the same individuaL has been lI'om cllstomers of these 

services. Our relorm eftorts tackle this challenge head on. 

In our recent Liji?/il1e Re/imn Order, the COl1lmission found that Lifeline participation 

increased significantly in states where consumers were permitted to sign up \\ ithout showing 

proofofeligibility (e.g., selfcertilication), and that failing to require proof of eligibility 

contributed to waste, fraud, and abuse. To correct for this, in the Li/elille Reform Order, the 

Commission required that all subscribers demonstrate their eligibility by showing proof of 

income or participation in a qualifying program. 

The Commission has also been working to eliminate duplicative support payments. which 

occurs where there is more than one reduced price Lifeline plan in a household. In 

Maryland, tbe Commission reviewed over 170,000 Lifeline subscriptions and eliminated 

support for over 20.000 duplicative subscriptions. which bas resulted in Clvcr $1.5 million in 

savings to the Fund in 20J 2. Thc Commission plans to revie''\ more LiI'elll1c subscriptions in 

Maryland later this year to continue preventing and eliminating duplicatiw support. As a 

result of the Order and steps taken in advance of the Order, over 700.000 duplicate 

subscriptions have been eliminated in2011 and 2012, for a total 01'$80 million in annual 

savings. 

In addition to the steps to eliminate duplicativc support. the Li/eline Re/I)J'f/1 ()rder includes a 

number of other reforms to constrain program grolVth. including establishment or national 

eligibility criteria and a national database, and independent audits in addition to setting an 

annual savings target for Lifeline. The Order also eliminated Link-Up support on non-Tribal 

lands, saving nearly $160 million annually. In July, the Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) 

issued a Progress Report estimating that Lifcline retorms bad already yielded approximately 

$43 million in savings between April 2. 2012. the effective date of the Order. ami J lily 31, 

2011. putting the Commission on target to meet our savings goal of$200 million in2012. 

On August 13,20 I 2, USAC issued a Request for Proposal for a vendor to build the National 

Lifeline Accountability Database, which will improve detection and prevention of 

duplicative support going lorward. 
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HOllse COlllmittee on Small Business 

"Digital Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small Businesses" 

July 18,2012 

Additional Questions for the Record 

7, The report said that it only takes 5 to 10 minutes for a person to receive a Lifeline phone. 

What information and what steps are necessary for an individual to receive a Li feline phone0 

About how long would you expect the application. veritication. and activation process to take? 

Response: Before enrolling an individual in Lifeline, either the phone company or the state 

Lifeline administrator must verify the consumer's eligibility by reviewing proof of either 

income or participation in a qualifying program, or by querying a state eligibility database 

(where available). The Lifeline R~fimll Order requires that consumers show proof of 

program or income eligibility to the eligible telecommunication carrier's representative and 

that the representative review the proof for compliance with Commission rules. Once the 

consumer's eligibility has been verified, the consumer then fills out a Lifeline Eligibility 

Certification Form. If the consumer states thaI he or she lives in a multi-housc:hold 

residence, he or she must also fill out a multi-household worksheet. Wireless subscribers 

must personally activate the service once they receive their wireless handset. Finally, all 

carriers must annually veriry the eligibility orall of their subscribers. This process involves 

receiving a completed certification li'om the subscriber that they remain eligible for the 

program and are not receiving more than one l.ifeline service lor their household. 

8. The report mentioned the FCC's new efforts to track and remove individuals li'omthe program 

who were receiving more than one Lifeline phone. That is a step in the right direction. However, 

it is my understanding that it is the participating provider's job to ask whethcl' a pcrson seeking a 

new Lifeline phone already has one. and to obtain the individual's ini'orm<tlion and share that 

information with the FCC's database to track fraud and abuse. The report showcased individuals 

who were in possession of multiple Lifeline cell phones, received a Lifeline phone while 

carrying another Lifeline phone, or received Lifeline phones only to turn around and sell them to 

drug dealers. It seems like there is a disconnect between FCC's plans to address fl'auci and abuse 

and what is happening at the cell phone provider level. What is the fCC doing to ensure that 

participating providers are asking the right questions and collecting accurate. verifiable data on 

individuals seeking Lifeline phones'! 

Response: Waste, fraud and abuse in the Lifeline program, by consumers or providers, will 

not be tolerated while I am Chairman. Even betore adopting the Lifeline Jlejiml1 Order 

earlier this year. the Commission created procedures to detcct and de-enroll subscribers with 

duplicate Lifeline-supported services. identilying more than 100.000 duplicmi\'c' l.ifeline 

subscriptions for elimination saving tens of millions oi'dollars. In Fcbruar). the 

Commission fundamentally overhauled the program by enacting rules to strengthen Lifeline 

by eliminating waste, li'aue! and abuse and getting rid of outdated rules. 

In the Liferine Reform Order. the Commission established new procecillt'es for how 

consumers are enrolled in Lifeline. including what information must be con\'(,~yecl to the 

consumer at sign up. Specifically. all prospective cuslomers must be provicied \\ ith the 

following information: I) Lifeline is a federal benefit and willfully making Elise statements 

to obtain the benefit can result in fines, imprisonment, de-enrollment or being barred from 

the program; 2) only one Lifeline service is available per household; 3) a household is 

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House Committee on Small Business 

"Digital Divide: Expanding Broadband Access \0 Small Businesses" 

July 18,2012 

Additional Question::. for the Record 

defined for purposes of the Lifeline program, as any individual or group of individuals who 

live together at the same address and share income and expenses; 4) a household is not 

permitted to receive Lifeline benefits from mUltiple providers: 5) violation of the one per 

household limitation constitutes a violation of the Commission's rules and will result in the 

subscriber's de-enrollment from the program; and 6) Lifeline is a non-transferable benefit 

and that subscribers may not transfer his or her benefit to any other person. 

In addition, carriers are required to collect the following information hom each subscriber, 

which the subscriber must attest to under penalty of perjury: the subscriber's name, 

residential address. whether the address is permanent or temporary, the subsviber's billing 

address if different from the residential address. subscriber's clate of binh. the last four digits 

of the subscriber's social security number or Tribal [I) number, and proof of digibility (if a 

database is not available to determine eligibility,) 

Pursuant to the Lifeline Reform Order, USAC will audit carriers to ensure that this 

information is being conveyed to subscribers. An)' carrier that violates the Commission's 

low-income rules fac>cs stiff penalties. including monetary forreitures or up to $150,000 for 

each violation, and up to a maximulll or $1,500,000 per continuing violation. In addition, a 

carrier could face revocation of its eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) designation for 

failure to comply with program requirements, One company has already been stripped of its 

designation to participate in the program, and the Commission has other investigations 

ongoing. 

Finally, it is important to note that, as required by the /,ijeiine /le/imn (Jrd<!!', the Universal 

Service Administrative COmptlny (USAC) recently released an RFP to establish the National 

Lifeline Accountability Database, This database will be the permanent solution to detect and 

eliminate duplicative Lifeline support. Using the information each carrier collects (as 

described above), carriers will be required to input subscriber information into the database 

so that other carriers can check to see if a potential subscriber is alread\' receiving a Lifeline 

benetit from another provider. This automated process will be in place in 2013 and "ill be a 

major step forward in ending duplicates within the Lifeline Program. 

Since implementing your new processes for Lifeline, has the FCC been made aware of any 

lrticipating providers who routinely are providing phones to individuals who have already 

ceived a Lifeline phone? If so, how have you responded to both the provider and the 

dividual? Is there any penalty for engaging in such activity') 

Response: One company has already been stripped of its designation to participate in the 

program, and the Commission has other investigations ongoing, Any carrier that violates the 

COl11mission's Lifeline rules may face penalties including monetary forieiturcs of up to 

$150,000 tor each violation. In additioll, a carrier could race revocation oi'thcir 

authorization to operate as an eligible telecommunications carrier. In addition, all Lifeline 

subscribers are required to acknowledge that providing false or fi'auc!u!cnt inti,1rmation to 

receive Lifeline benefits is punishable by law. COllsumers willfully making false statements 

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House Committee on Small Business 

;'DigitaJ Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small Businesses" 

July 18,2012 

Additional Questions fol' the Rocol'd 

open themselves up to penalties of pet jury and can be punished by tint: or imprisonment or 

can be barred from the program. 

The Honorable KUI,t Shrader 

J. The Notice of Proposed Rulemakit1g (NPRM) Ot1 interoperability in the Lower 700 MHz bat1d 

that was issued this past March cot1siders requiring interoperability it1 the Lower 700 MHz band. 

The deadlit1e for comments was June 1 S1 and reply comments July l6th One of the frequent 

comments I receive is the lack of certainty with FCC actions and as a result there is an inability 

for many businesses to proceed with building out their networks to ensure they will have access 

to devices. Can you please provide the committee with an exact timeframc or when the 

Commission will make a decision on interoperability? . 

Response: Staff is currently evaluating the record of morc than 200 comments filed in this 

proceeding. The comment cycle in this proceeding closed on July 16, and stalTis already 

engaged in evaluating the record, including information thal has been adlkd I,) the record as 

recently as the end of October. The COlllmission is actively 1V0rking to address this critical 

issue, 

The Honorable Gary Peters 

I. Chairman Genachowski, could you provide an update on the "Broadband Adoption Lifeline 

Pilot Program" and any details on approved projects targeting urban areas? 

Response: The Broadband Adoption Lifeline Pilot Program was created in January 2012 

using savings from the reforms we instituted in the Lifeline program of the Universal Service 

Fund, On April 30, 2012 the Commission released a Public Notice announcing the deadline 

for applications for the pilot program of July 2, 10 1:Z. The Commission received more than 

20 applications and is currently evaluating them. 

2. Chairman Genachowski and Secretary Strickling, can you tell us about FCC and NTIA eftorts 

to expand digital literacy in urban areas? Do you coordinate with other agencies (,n these efforts') 

Response: The FCC worked closely with NTlA and eight other agcncies to develop an 

online tontl11 called Digital Literacy.gov, which serves a resource lor librarians, teachers, 

workforce trainers, and olhers to collaborate and develop best practices for improving digital 

literacy initiatives in their communities. 

The FCC also helped catalyze the creation ofConncct2Compete, a public-private partnership 

that not only provides low-cost broadband access and computers to low income Americans, 

but also connects consumers to digital literacy training in their communities [0 ensure that 

they are equipped to take full advantage of the benefits of broadband. In .luly. 

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House Committee on Smull Business 

"Digital Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small Businesses" 

July 18,2012 

Additional Questions lor the Record 

Connect2Compete expanded to include the Department of Labor as an outreach partner. The 

Department of Labor's participation will bring digital literacy training to their network of 

nearly 2,800 employment and training centers across the country. 

3. Chairman Genachowski, will Universal Service Fund (USF) reform provide adequate funding 

for expanded broadband adoption programs beyond the Broadband Adoption Lilcline Pilot 

Program? 

Response: The Broadband Adoption Lifeline Pilot Program is a key step in transitioning 

USF to support broadband. including to increase broadband adoption. As we learn from the 

data the Program will generate, we will have a beller understanding of how limited USF 

resources can best be used to increase broadband adoption. 

4. Chairman Genachowski and Secretary Strickling, do you believe that new legislation to 

provide support for broadband adoption in the form of tax incentives or new appropriations could 

help increase adoption rates? Are there additional tools that Congress could pl'Ovide that would 

allow your agencies to expand broadband adoption and digital literacy efj(lrts? 

Response: I welcome the opportunity to 1V0rk with Congress to increase broadband adoption. 

The Commission's Broadband Adoption Lifeline Pilot Program requires participants 

receiving support to design projects that will generate important new data on how support for 

the monthly cost of broadband can increase broadband adoption among low-income 

Americans. This information will help in](Jnll potentiulnc'(t steps. including steps thm 

Congress can take to help tackle this important isslle. 

The HOllo!'ablc ,Janice Hahn 

I. Broadband investment provides substantial benefits to consumers and smull businesses. 

Thanks to the FCC's thoughtful and inclusive approach. investmenl in liber has skyrocketed 

since 2003. In Apl'il, the Wall Street Journal reported that 19.2 million miles of liber were 

installed in the United States compared to the 5 million miles installed during 2003. There are 

now 770 carriers deploying Fiber-to-tbe-Home around the country. 

Fiber now passes over 22.6 million U.S. homes compared to only 180.000 in :ZOO]. Analysts 

report that 8 million American homes are now connected by fiber and lhal roughly 32% of 

commercial buildings in the United States have access to libeL Thus. lVe illUS! n1<lke sure that 

future regulation continues to promote competition and foster growth as vI e continue to make 

these much needed investments. 

So with these facts in mind, I have a question about the FCCs role in future fibcr deployment. 

What are the I'uture plans for the FCC to regulate tiber services') 

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House Committee on Small Business 

"Digital Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small Businesses" 

July 18,2012 

Additional Questions tor the Record 

Response: Ensuring strong incentives to invest iniiber, mobile, and other advanced 

communications infrastructure has been one of the FCC's top priorities under my leadership, 

And fiber deployment has been increasing: More than 19 million miles of optical tiber were 

installed in the United States in the last year. '·the most since the boom year 01"2000," 

according to The Wal! Sireel Journal. Promoting competition and removing barriers to 

investment have been vital parts of this success. 

I remain committed to policies that promote competition, remove barriers to broadband 

buildout, and protect and empower consumers, all of which are critical to robust network 

investment. 

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The Honorable Sam Graves 

Chairman 

Committee on Small Business 

United States House of Representatives 

July 18,2012 

2361 Rayburn Office Building Washington, DC 20515 

The Honorable Nydia Velazquez 

Ranking Member 

Committee on Small Business 

United States House of Representatives 

2361 Rayburn Office Building Washington, DC 20515 

.:lJmj Jrn;. 

1250 ~ Stud, N.W., Suite 1200 

W""ftingam, 1>e 20005 

Re: July 18, 2012, Hearing Entitled: Digital Divide: Expanding Broadband Access to Small 

Businesses 

Dear Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Velazquez: 

Thank you for convening a hearing on expanding broadband access to small businesses. 

This hearing is very important, and we appreciate the Committee's leadership on ensuring that 

our nation's small businesses have the tools necessary to remain competitive in the global 

economy. 

Founded in 1995 in San Jose, Calif., eBay Inc. connects millions of buyers and sellers 

globally on a daily basis through cBay, the world's largest online marketplace, and PayPal, which 

enables individuals and small businesses to securely, easily, and quickly send and receive online 

payments. We also reach millions through specialized marketplaces such as StubHub, the world's 

largest ticket marketplace, and eBay c1assifieds sites. Currently, we have over 102 million users 

worldwide and in the first quarter of2012 alone over $16 billion in goods were traded on our 

site. 

Most relevant to the matter before the Committee is that for the past 17 years, eBay has 

consistently been an Internet platform that has empowered consumers and millions of small 

business retailers and entrepreneurs across the globe. eBay is dedicated to connecting consumers 

with small business retailers and entrepreneurs that can provide the opportunity to purchase 

quality products and services at competitive prices from the convenience of their homes. 

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eBay believes that access to the Internet and therefore unfettered access to global trade 

empowers consumers and promotes economic development, in particular among small 

businesses and entrepreneurs that use the Internet to reach a global audience. Over the past 

decade, broadband Internet has been a critical technological tool that has forever changed the 

way we live, think, communicate, conduct business, and even shop. The Internet is not only the 

product of innovation, but it is a tool for innovation itself and it has empowered consumers and 

small entrepreneurs from all corners of the globe to connect in a way that was impossible before 

the World Wide Web. 

Due to the importance of the Internet and the ecommerce market to the success of small 

businesses across the country, eBay strongly believes that small business empowerment and 

access to broadband Internet should be an important principle as policymakers look to shore up 

our economy. 

Internet Empowers Small Business Entrepreneurs 

Over the past 15 years, the Internet has enabled millions of small business retailers and 

entrepreneurs across the country to engage in global commerce. Through these new 

opportunities, small business leaders and entrepreneurs have been able to grow their businesses, 

create new jobs, and contribute more effectively to their local economy. 

The Internet and the global ecommerce market has been a very effective platform for 

small business retailers for a number of different reasons. In particular, the Internet has opened 

up new opportunities for small businesses by significantly lowering the barriers to enter into a 

global market. It is very expensive to establish and maintain a new brick-and-mortar store in 

today's economy. However, the ecommerce platfonn has enabled small businesses to quickly 

and cost-effectively create an online store and scale up with few of the costs or limitations 

associated with establishing a brick-and-mortar shop. In addition, many established small brickand-mortar retailers have also taken advantage of the ecommerce market and have been able to 

survive on Main Street by selling a percentage of their inventory online. Without access to highspeed Internet, that wouldn't even be an option to our Main StTeet businesses. 

In light of the low barriers to entry, we have also found that a number of the individuals 

that start a small online business on our site have experienced difficult personal circumstances. 

In a study recently commissioned by eBay, we found that 26% of the small business retailers in 

that country set up their business on eBay after being unemployed; 14% have physical 

disabilities; and 49% do not have a diploma higher than high school. 

Access to the Internet also allows small business entrepreneurs to reach consumers across 

the globe with little difficulty or cost, which greatly expands their business opportunities. In 

fact, 30% of all of the transactions on eBay today comes from cross border trade and 90% of 

small businesses on eBay export. Without access to the Internet, cross border trade would be 

extremely difficult for these small businesses. 

Furthermore, the Internet has also been a critical tool to disadvantaged communities or 

groups looking to thrive and not just survive. As this Committee is well aware, the 

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Telecommunications Act of 1996 required that consumers in rural areas have access to advanced 

services and rates that are reasonably comparable to those available in urban areas. When local 

communities are connected to the Internet, it creates a unique opportunity for small entrepreneurs 

of every walk of life and geographical area to engage in global commerce without needing to 

move to an urban location. The Internet is empowering these individuals, as well as augmenting 

local communities' economic development. 

In fact, with the expansion of broadband to rural areas in particular, we have seen more 

and more rural merchants become eBay top-rated sellers. In 2011, rural-based top-rated sellers 

did over $2.9 billion in total sales so far this year. That's a $26 million increase in ruralgenerated sales over comparable 2010 data. 

In today's current economic environment, it is imperative that policymakers strive to 

protect our small businesses and entrepreneurs and encourage their growth and sustainability by 

giving them the opportunity to access tools, like the Internet, that are critical to participating in 

the global economy. As we all know, small businesses are extremely important to the United 

States' path towards economic recovery. Small businesses are the lifeblood of America, and, 

according to a recent study released by the u.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses 

created 70% of the new jobs in the U.S. over the past decade and are responsible for half of all 

jobs in the private sector. 

Small online retailers and entrepreneurs are helping to playa critical role in restoring our 

nation's economy and creating jobs. For example, eBay's highest rated U.S.-based sellers, those 

who provide the best overall experience to customers, increased their year-over-year same store 

sales by almost 14% in the second quarter of 2009, which was a significant achievement in a 

tough economy when many businesses were either laying off employees or closing their doors. 

Small online retailers and entrepreneurs have become an integral part of our nation's economy 

and this will only continue if they have continue to have access to high-speed Internet. 

Conclusion 

eBay thanks the Committee for its commitment to expanding broadband Internet to 

America's small businesses. Access to the Internet and the global economy is critical to the 

continued success of small businesses and entrepreneurs. eBay looks forward to working with 

the Committee in the months and years ahead on the various policies that have the potential to 

promote the growth of small online businesses and entrepreneurs, and ultimately create an 

environment for job growth and economic development. 

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Statement •• of the 

American Farm Bureau Federation 

TO THE 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS 

RE: EXPANDING BROADBAND ACCESS TO SMALL BUSINESS 

July 18, 2012 

600 Mal)'!andAve SW i Suite 1000W i washington, DC 20024 1 P 202 406 3600 I f 202 406 3606 I wwwfbnrg 
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The American Farm Bureau Federation believes high-speed broadband services have great potential 

to bring business opportunities to rural Americans. Farm Bureau represents more than 6 million 

families who live and work in rural America. 

The Small Business Administration (SBA) conducted a study in 2010 that evaluated the methods 

used by small businesses to access broadband services and the impact of broadband on small 

businesses. The study found that broadband service is vital for small businesses in "achieving 

strategic goals, improving competitiveness and efficiency, reaching customers, and interacting with 

vendors. "I Farmers and ranchers in rural America rely on broadband access to manage and operate 

successful businesses, the same as small businesses do in urbiill America. Access to broadband 

allows farmers and ranchers to follow commodity markets, communicate with their customers and 

gain access to new markets around the world. 

Many farmers and ranchers conduct their business operations from their homes. The U.S. 

Department of Agriculture repotts a total of 62 percent of U.S. farms had Internet service in 2011, 

compared with 59 percent in 2009? This upward trend oflnternet access must continue if farmers, 

ranchers and other small businesses in rural America are going to thrive and be successful in a 

global economy. Thirty-eight percent offarms use DSL to access the Internet, the most commonly 

used method.3 However, 48 percent of rural small businesses are not satisfied with the speed of 

their Internet connection.4 According to the SBA study, the lack of competition within the Internet 

market limits Internet options available for small businesses to find the best package of speed and 

price.; Farmers, ranchers and other small businesses need competition within the Internet market to 

allow them to access the most cost-effective Intcrnet option. 

As government agencies rely increasingly on information technology to disseminate and collect 

information, affordable, high-speed, home-based broadband connectivity is becoming a necessary 

tool for farmers and ranchers. Farmers and ranchers without access to affordable, high-speed 

Internet connections eventually might be unable to comply with government regulations, take 

advantage of government services or gain market information. Therefore, affordable home 

broadband access is vital to keeping American agriculture competitive in the world marketplace. 

America's farmers and ranchers need viable rural communities to supply the services needed to 

support their families and agricultural operations. To thrive, rural areas need access to health care, 

government services and educational and business opportunities. For many rural communities 

access can only be gained by using broadband services and sophisticated technologies that require 

high-speed connections. Rural business owners need access to new markets and well-educated 

employees for their businesses. Rural health care providers need access to health information 

technology. Rural students need access to educational resources and continuing education 

opportunities. 

I U.S. Small Business Administration, The Impact ojBroadband Speed and Price on Small ]Jusiness. 2010 Nov. 

http://archive.sba.gov/advo/research/rs373tot.pdf. 

, U.S. Department of Agriculture. F'lrm Computer (J.'G?e and Ownership, National Agricultural Statistics Service. 20 II 

Aug. http://usdaO l.Jibrarv.comell.edu/usdaicurrentiFarmComp/FarmComp-08-12-2011 new formal.pdf. 

'lbid. 

4 U.S. Small Business Administration. http://archiye.sba.gov/advo/researchlrs373totJl!li·. 

5 Ibid. 
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Current and future generations of rural Americans will be left behind their fellow citizens if they are 

without affordable, high-speed broadband service to tap into health care and educational services, 

government agencies and new business opportunities. 

Farm Bureau calls on Congress to join it in making a commitment to revitalizing our rural 

communities and ensuring the health and welfare of present and future generations of rural 

Americans by expanding broadband access to rural America at an affordable rate. 

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