NTCA Members Testify Before U.S. House on the Impact of Reliable Broadband on Small Businesses

Kristi Westbrock, CEO and general manager of CTC (Brainerd, Minn.), Jimmy Todd, CEO of Nex-Tech (Lenora, Kan.), and Karen Jackson-Furman, CEO of West Kentucky & Tennessee Telecommunications Cooperative (Mayfield, Ky.), today testified before the House of Representatives Committee on Small Business on the importance of reliable broadband for small businesses and the barriers that smaller rural broadband providers face as they work to expand and sustain their networks.

In the hearing, "Wired for Growth: How Expanding Broadband Can Revitalize Rural Small Businesses," Westbrock discussed how permitting "roadblocks, delays, and increased costs associated with permitting and approval processes are particularly problematic for providers" in rural areas, resulting in long delays, leaving some rural communities without service in the meantime. Westbrock also answered questions about the need for Universal Service Fund (USF) reform and problems with the National Broadband Map, which enables claims of sweeping broadband availability that do not match real-world experience and reduce or eliminate potential broadband funding opportunities.

"The National Broadband Map is critical in such decision-making, but it still falls short far too often in capturing facts on the ground accurately," she said. Todd shared how rural broadband networks can help small businesses and rural economies grow, noting that research by the Center on Rural Innovation shows rural counties with broadband adoption rates above 80% experience significant economic advantages compared to counties with low adoption. "These high-adoption counties see 213% higher business growth, while similar counties with low adoption are losing businesses," Todd said.

Jackson-Furman noted the critical role the USF plays in ensuring that rural consumers and businesses have access to the reliable, high-quality broadband they need, noting, "USF doesn't just cover network construction, but also ongoing operations, maintenance, and upgrades, so we can keep our network on pace with what Americans in more urban areas enjoy."

Westbrock, Todd and Jackson-Furman's testimonies can be found on the committee's website.