Small Business Committee Has Big Interest in Rural Broadband

Attendance at the June 22 House Small Business Committee's Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy & Trade hearing on improving broadband deployment in rural America was small, but it was yet another dive into a crowded pool as Washington drilled down on the issue, including on Capitol Hill, at the Federal Communications Commission and even in Iowa, where the President talked up rural broadband as well.

The chairman of the subcommittee, Rep Rod Blum (R-IA), is from a rural district and also owns a small technology company that relies on internet access, so he cautioned the audience not to read the light attendance as lack of interest, only that there was a lot going on at the Hill. Chairman Blum said "the nation's small telecom providers are the ones that traditionally supply the bulk of broadband services to the most rural parts of America, and that is no easy task."