Last mile' broadband access key to small-business growth

[Commentary] Just as the nation has pulled itself from previous cycles of "economic bust" through new technologies, today's leading technology, the Internet, stands poised to deliver the next generation of American success stories. There remains just one missing link: lack of affordable "last mile" broadband access for many of America's small businesses, one of our greatest sources of job creation.

As CEO of a business that creates small-business broadband solutions, I remain amazed when my jobs-creating small-business customers remain desperately in need of technologies now considered basic tools for their larger competitors. Fortunately, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has recognized broadband's importance to small business, and we've seen good progress as the FCC formulates rules for broadband deployment in its National Broadband Plan.

Regulatory efficiency, social equality, and economic strategy all argue that the National Broadband Plan recognize the importance of bringing broadband to small businesses immediately in order to spur job creation. This can happen by recognizing the value of copper and promoting access to that infrastructure.