Cramer: House Approves H.R. 4596, Small Business Broadband Deployment Act
Press Release
Congressman Kevin Cramer announced today the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4596, the Small Business Broadband Deployment Act. The bill exempts for a period of five years, any small broadband Internet providers from certain requirements of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) enhanced transparency rules within the 2015 Open Internet Order, commonly referred to as "Net Neutrality."
"In rural America, where distance is greater than the population, access to reliable broadband internet is vital for education, economic development, health care and personal use," said Cramer. "Many of our small Internet service providers and communication and technology companies have been meeting this demand with plenty of things going against them. Much of the investment in rural broadband infrastructure was done by small communication businesses at great cost. They already do a great job serving their customers and should not have to comply with the FCC's burdensome one-size-fits-all regulations. We do not want to stifle innovation. We want to expand innovation, especially in something as dynamic as the internet."
The exemption covers any provider of broadband Internet service that has 250,000 or fewer subscribers.
"The North Dakota Association of Telecommunications Cooperatives applauds Congressman Cramer for working on a solution for the rural broadband and telecom providers being subject to new burdensome and expensive reporting requirements that were to go into effect at the end of this year. Mr. Cramer's measured approach, postponing implementation for 5 years to determine if they would actually be meaningful, allows North Dakota's telecom cooperatives and other small independent companies to devote more of their dollars and people to making sure that rural North Dakotan's have greater and more affordable access to high speed broadband in the State", according to David Crothers, executive vice president of the association.
Cramer spoke on the House floor in favor of the bill. View his remarks by clicking on the image below.
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