Groups looking to free up more spectrum for broadband released a report saying a small business start-up could save over $16,000 by using high-speed broadband.
Saying broadband was an entrepreneurship booster, something Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski has long espoused, the Internet Innovation Alliance (AT&T and fiber supplier Corning are members) and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council broke out the savings. The report estimated the cost of high-speed at $490.
The report put the savings -- $16,550.52 -- at about 33.37% of the total start-up cost.
They include on printing services, Web and logo design, office space vs. working out of the home, travel costs and newspaper subscriptions.
The report said broadband would reduce start-up costs, thus lowering barriers to entry and freeing up more money for revenue-generation and preserving capital for future investment.
"Now more than ever we need more spectrum in the hands of those actually serving our entrepreneurs, to ensure robust and reliable Internet service," said Internet Innovation Alliance co-chair Bruce Mehlman in a statement. "Policies that allow the markets to deploy these resources to their highest and best use, rather than politicians' preferences, will lead to a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem - that means more innovation, more jobs, more cost-savings for consumers and more start-up businesses in the United States."
