“The business of business,” as the late Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman said, “is business.”  

In the second decade of the 21st century the business of business is closely linked to, and intertwined with, high-speed access to the Internet.

In most urban centers around the nation, broadband is a simple matter of calling the phone or cable company and waiting for the installer to arrive.  In many rural areas, however, the availability of broadband is anything but a given.

In the information networking world, the issue is known as “the last mile.”  That is the shorthand for the distance which has to be traversed by a cable between a major Internet network line to your house or your business.  It is not much different than building a road leading from I-77 into downtown Danville.     

And like roadways, the “last mile” link to the Internet can be a state route like Route 58 or a county road like Route 51.  They’ll both get you from the interstate to a store in Danville, but the amount of time it will take, and the amount of cargo you can carry won’t be the same.

As Chambers of Commerce our role is strategic.  We are charged with working hard to improve the business environment so that current businesses can grow, and we can attract new businesses.  In too many rural counties – not just in the Commonwealth of Virginia, but across the United States – the only connections to the Internet are through slow dial-up connections or through the use of a mobile phone.

The problem of broadband availability is solvable if governments – local, county, state and federal – work together with private business to provide the construction capital necessary to build the “fiber optic road” from the information super-highway to farms and towns, which need the access to prosper.

As Chambers of Commerce we are realists.  We understand the intersection of government and business is sometimes complex and both sides have to show the courtesies of the road.   If they do, both can reach their destinations: for the governments it is to protect the health, safety and welfare of its citizens; and for businesses, it is to provide goods, services and jobs for its customers and employees.

The business of business is business, but the business of all of us is to promote better communities and that takes everyone.  It is in that spirit that we attended an event today in Danville, Virginia which was hosted by Broadband for America (BfA).  We discussed broadband Internet and the impact it has on businesses and communities throughout the Commonwealth.  All of us have the same goal, making sure every home and business in Virginia has broadband Internet access, and only by working together will that goal be achieved.