National Broadband Plan Workshop on Opportunities for Disadvantaged Businesses (see summary)

National Broadband Plan Workshop (Opportunities for Disadvantaged Businesses)

See a quick summary of this workshop

See a webcast of the workshop

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Federal Communications Commission
Room TW-C305 (Commission Meeting Room)
445 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20554
August 18, 2009
1:30pm-5:00pm

Contact:
Gilberto DeJesus
Gilberto.DeJesus@fcc.gov
(202) 418-7331
http://broadband.gov/ws_disadvantaged_biz.html

FCC Participants

• Thomas A. Reed, Director, Office of Communications Business Opportunities

Panel 1: Institutional and Governmental Views

• Margot Dorfman, CEO, US Women's Chamber of Commerce (see prepared presentation)
• Cheryl M. Johns, Assistant Chief Counsel, Office of Advocacy, Small Business Administration
• Timothy McNeil, Director of Development, National Conference of Black Mayors
• David Ferreira, Vice President, Government Affairs; US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
• Raymond J. Keating, Chief Economist, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council
• Mark Gailey, Chairman, Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Telecommunications Companies

Panel 2: A View from Small and Disadvantage Business Broadband Entrepreneurs

• Anthony Washington, CEO, Destiny Broadband, Inc.
• Hung Nguyen, Proposal Manager, HCI\Integrated Solutions
• Todd Flemming, President & CEO, Infrasafe, Inc.
• JC Coles, President & CEO, Broadband Solutions

Panel 3: A View from Traditional Old-Line Businesses in the Age of Broadband

• Warren Brown, CEO, Cakelove
• Charles Ramos, CEO, CR Dynamics
• Auria Styles, CEO, The Mod Pod, LLC
• Cleveland Spears, General Manager and Program Director, Im4Radio

The goal of this workshop is to explore how broadband can help certain businesses. According to the US Census Bureau, minority-owned firms are growing four times faster than all US firms and accounted for over 50% of the 2 million businesses started in the US in the past decade. There are now more then 4 million minority-owned companies in the US and the US Census Bureau projects that minorities will become the majority in 2042.

The workshop will explore whether small and disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) are poised to take advantage of broadband technology and its antecedent benefits to help these businesses grow and reach new markets. It will explore whether communities where such small businesses reside are equipped with broadband, understand the value broadband brings to the business equation, and what, if any, role government, educational institutions and the private sector should undertake to assist SDBs to incorporate and harness the power of broadband.

The following are some of the preliminary topics that will be covered at this workshop. The FCC is inviting suggestions.

• How can broadband be used to spur the growth of small/disadvantaged businesses (SDBs)?
  • What needs to be done to encourage small and disadvantaged businesses to become part of this information and wealth connector highway?
  • Will institutions such as the SBA, Chambers of Commerce, community colleges, etc. need to play a collaborative role in bringing SDBs up to speed on the advantages of resources available?
• How do we reach non-English speaking or limited-English speaking entrepreneurs?
  • What resources are currently out there in the public and private sector to raise the awareness of this new technology and its associated business benefits?
  • How can we develop a strategic plan and public/private partnerships to insure that these entrepreneurs are not left out of the broadband revolution?
• What barriers exist to the full integration of broadband by SDBs? For example,
  • financial;
  • social/cultural;
  • institutional;
• As government rolls out broadband stimulus resources now and in the future build-out, how do we ensure the inclusion of SDB in the future build-out process?
  • How can small, disadvantaged businesses participate in the infrastructure phase such as wiring and building the pipeline?
  • How can small, disadvantaged businesses participate as information and content providers of the service?
• How does the private sector and other stakeholders work with government and institutions to ensure that SDBs are able to grow and prosper in this environment by taking advantage of this technology?
• As an SDB, what unique business/community perspectives does it bring to the table in terms of underserved/unserved needs?

Here's a look at what some are already telling the FCC about broadband and small and disadvantaged businesses...

Latino Institution for Corporate Inclusion
Latino-owned businesses are too frequently not given the opportunity to compete with other vendors. Broadband can help alleviate some of these disparities and provide for the future success of Latinos. With broadband connections, Latinos can start businesses from home. A study by the AEA Competitiveness Series finds that Tele-work also expands the workforce by including working parents, the retired and semi-retired, the disabled and rural Americans.

The Latino Issues Forum finds that broadband enhances Latinos' access to tools that provide socioeconomic advantages. They assert that community-based organizations playa major role in providing underserved populations with access to broadband, as well as training and support services. As the LICI works to advance Latinos' economic success, we believe such services are essential to our community's professional development.

OPASTCO (Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies)
Broadband should be made a supported service under the High-Cost program. This would enable deployment to the highest-cost consumers in rural service areas. Equally important, it is necessary for ongoing operations and the network upgrades needed to provide "next generation" broadband technologies and speeds to these areas. The FCC should maintain the embedded cost-based support system for rural ILECs, as it has proven to be successful in promoting broadband deployment as well as being accountable to the public. However, the Commission should remove the cap on HCLS, which fails to account for the additional deployment and upgrade costs that rural ILECs must incur in order to provide robust broadband services throughout their territories. Also, support should be provided for the high middle-mile transport costs that rural ILECs often incur in reaching the Internet backbone, which can make the business case for offering higher speeds difficult. In addition, expeditious intercarrier compensation reform, including a replacement mechanism for lost access charge revenues, is key to rural ILECs' ability to make future network investments.

SBE Council
SBE Council believes that maintaining a pro-investment model needs to be an overriding goal of the National Broadband Plan. Billions of private sector investment in broadband has made powerful services and tools available to small businesses. The continued investment in this sector remains an isolated bright spot in our stressed economy. During this challenging economic period, it is essential that our policies -- and the National Broadband Plan itself - help accelerate the positive momentum within the U.S. broadband market. If the strategy of the plan is to ensure that "all people of the United States have access to broadband capability", then acknowledging the continued need for robust private sector involvement through an inclusive, investment-friendly plan of action is crucial.

Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership
Everyday, HTTP's network of organizations reaches deep into communities to meet the Hispanic community's most pressing needs. We increasingly rely on broadband and advanced technologies to serve the most vulnerable segments of the Hispanic population. Our members have witnessed how technology can create educational, economic, civic and social opportunities in even the most challenging circumstances. HTTP strongly urges the FCC to develop policies that ensure universal broadband deployment and adoption, so that more people can benefit from empowering technologies.

National Korean American Service & Education Consortium
As many Korean Americans are small business owners, broadband creates new
opportunities for economic achievement for those in our community. Equipped
only with a broadband connection, an individual can create a business anywhere.
A Connect Ohio Technology Assessment found that median annual revenues for
Ohio businesses using broadband were double those of businesses that did not use
broadband. Broadband technology boosts productivity and improves efficiency.
Broadband has other important societal benefits. With broadband technology at
home, Americans can reduce their health care costs and trips to the doctor's office
through telemedicine applications. A study by the American Consumer Institute
revealed that telemedicine can reduce costs by 80% simply by allowing for basic
medical checks to be performed regularly at home and then transmitted to a central
database. Broadband also enhances educational opportunities and civic
engagement by connecting Americans to educational institutions and every level
of their government.

Covad Communications
1. Small Business Broadband Plan - a plan to increase the adoption of business-class broadband by small businesses, the engine of innovation and job creation in the United States ("US") economy. The plan contains the following key items:

• Preserving the legacy copper plant, so that carriers can continue to offer innovative business-class broadband services to small businesses.
• Total element long run incremental cost ("TELRIC")-based access to legacy monopoly bottlenecks, including copper loops, transport, and collocation.
• Open access to fiber and hybrid copper-fiber loops, using an actual cost, rate of return, pricing methodology.
• Removing the disruptive elements of the current forbearance process.
• Reasonable cost-based Section 271 rates for de-listed network elements.
• Oversight and reduction of special access rates.

2. Next-Generation Build-Out Plan - a plan to deliver at least 100 megabits per second ("Mbps") to the great majority of US customers by 2015. The plan contains the following key items:

• At least 100 Mbps to US customers by 2015.
• Upgradeable to at least 1 gigabit per second ("Gbps"), without the need to upgrade the last-mile.
• High cost exception: at least 10 Mbps for locations that cost more than $2,000 in installation costs or $75 per month in operating costs.
• Wholesale open access to the network, using an actual cost, rate of return, pricing methodology.
• Projected total cost between $100 billion and $125 billion, with $50 billion coming from the private sector and between $50 billion and $75 billion coming from public funds.
• Funded by telecommunications and broadband fees, rather than general appropriation funds.

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... and may we suggest
Economic Development and Job Creation from Benton's Action Plan for America