PRESS RELEASE

May 30, 2019

Washington, D.C. – Connect Americans Now (CAN) Executive Director Richard T. Cullen released the following statement ahead of the U.S. House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Infrastructure field hearing entitled “Small Businesses and Their Limitations Without Reliable Access to Rural Broadband:”

“Countless small businesses throughout rural America are being held back without access to broadband, and we thank Chairman Golden and Ranking Member Stauber for hosting this critical hearing and learning firsthand how the digital divide is impacting main street businesses.

“As the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) 2019 Broadband Deployment Report showed, removing the regulatory barriers limiting investments in TV white spaces and other innovative, wireless technologies to bridge the digital divide is as important as ever. Chairman Golden and Ranking Member Stauber have both championed this issue, and we look forward to hearing what they learn from small business owners in today’s hearing.

BACKGROUND:

 On April 15, 2019, Chairman Golden led a bipartisan group of Small Business Committee members in writing a letter that asks the FCC to remove the regulatory barriers limiting investments in TV white spaces technology.