RAHALL REPORT: Broadband Access Should Be a Priority for All
From the desk of U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV)Representing West Virginia's 3rd District
Washington, D.C. (HNN) -- This week I joined Senator Rockefeller, FCC Commission Michael Copps, local officials and economic development leaders at the Southern West Virginia Broadband Summit, hosted by the Discover the REAL West Virginia Foundation at the Glade Springs Resort near Beckley.
The conference was a true eye-opener and I am certain that those in attendance left the conference, as I did, with some new ideas and perspective concerning the economic impact of broadband access to southern West Virginia.
I commend Senator Rockefeller for convening this summit for us to meet, face to face, with the folks who are in the digital catbird's seat of making things happen in our State and our Nation.
Considering the recent results of a study coming out of Alliance West Virginia, this conference could not have come at a more opportune time. The group polled residents in Barbour, Clay, Lincoln, McDowell, Webster and Wyoming counties this spring on Internet usage and computer ownership. Of the 700 people who responded, 71 percent said they owned computers. When asked how they connected to the Internet, 67 percent said they still depended on dial-up service.
What does this survey tell us? It tells us that West Virginians are using the Internet, but that we still have work to do to get all of these users the kind of high-speed connection and education necessary to keep up in today's world.
We need to integrate Internet usage into the core curricula -especially in understanding its capabilities and in terms of mathematics and engineering get to spur future innovation and new frontiers for the network.
And while we should start with our youngest students, we can't stop there.
This is why I support the establishment of a human-capital investment tax credit that would allow companies to write off worker-training expenses. Such a credit would be an important investment-in our workforce and in our economy.
Businesses would have an incentive to provide their workers the most up-to-date training on our most up-to-date technologies. And a better trained, more diversified workforce would increase efficiency, bring higher yields and be better able to take advantage of future technological advances.
Bur most importantly, we need to make sure we employ broadband services here in the heart of southern West Virginia. In the coming years, our area will reap the benefits of multi-million dollar federal investments in new technology centers and business parks in Lewisburg ($1.850 million), Hinton ($1.1 million), Beckley ($1.95 million), and Concord University ($4.125 million). I obtained these investments knowing that they would pay for themselves many times over, and already we are starting to see results.
I hold fast to my commitment to deliver broadband service to the people of the 3rd Congressional District and work closely with both the private sector and public entities to explore solutions to the broadband access and usage challenges that exist for West Virginia.
Technology can, should and will pervade all aspects of our future economy. I believe that West Virginia ought to quite naturally become the in-sourcing capital of the world. American companies need not outsource for their information technology to find a dependable and reliable workforce at a much-reduced cost of similar operations.
To that end, I have established the Connected Technologies Corridors Program (CTC), a collaborative effort of development authorities. As part of my 3Ts plan for economic revitalization, composed of technology, transportation, and tourism initiatives, and to which Senator Byrd has wisely suggested we add a fourth T, TEAMWORK, CTC is leading the charge.
The team is composed of 11 county commissions and more than 50 municipalities, which have come together for the purpose of broadband development and deployment, entrepreneurial startups, retention and expansion of technology-based businesses, and regional marketing of what the 11-county area of southeastern West Virginia has to offer.
The seed funding for this start-up economic development initiative is being provided by the Benedum Foundation, Verizon West Virginia and Frontier Communications.
The future, too, is full of promise. Two new programs, the Small Business Incubator and Entrepreneurial Studies Program at the Rahall Center at Concord University and a transportation-related business incubator at the Rahall Transportation Institute will arm entrepreneurs with the tools they need to not only compete, but thrive in today's global economy.
We in West Virginia, like most places in our country, have a lot of work to do when it comes to broadband access. I know America works best when it works together. This week's conference was evidence of that. With all of us on the same page, and with broadband access and Internet education as our priority, we can and we will move mountains.