WASHINGTON – Federal Communications Commission members agreed Wednesday with Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine that increased broadband access to the Internet should be a high federal priority and that government intervention and perhaps even incentives to the private sector may be needed.

The two commissioners testified before the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, on which Snowe is the senior Republican.

“I support a telecommunications tax credit” to encourage expanded broadband access in rural communities, Snowe said in an interview after the hearing.

The commissioners and other witnesses told the panel that limited access to broadband Internet inhibits small businesses nationally, and Snowe said that issue is of particular concern in Maine.

“I firmly believe that federal policies should promote a universal broadband market that deploys competitive and affordable broadband,” Snowe said in her opening statement at the hearing. “Today, the marketplace lacks competition with 98 percent of Americans receiving their broadband service from either a phone or cable company.”

Snowe said that not only lack of competition, but also lack of general access to the Internet is a problem in Maine.

“Twenty-five percent of the [Maine] population lives in a rural area,” she said in the interview. “People need to have broadband access. People want to run their own enterprises and work from their own homes, which is especially true in Maine.”

Snowe said the pending sale of Verizon Communications’ land line services in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to FairPoint Communications illustrates part of the changing broadband market.

The telecommunications companies “are all finding their niches. Verizon is choosing to focus on more-urban areas, and smaller companies like FairPoint are trying to capitalize in rural markets,” Snowe said. “The open question is whether or not they [FairPoint] are prepared to make an investment in rural areas of the state.”

Snowe pointed to Maine’s transitioning economy, from manufacturing-based to knowledge-based, as a major reason why broadband access is critical.

“What are we going to do in the small towns to rebuild their economy? You give them access to the global economy,” Snowe said. “I think it is an important step.”

The two Federal Communications Commission members agreed with Snowe that increasing broadband access needs to be a priority.

“The Internet is supposed to be the great equalizer, leveling the playing field between urban and rural; large and small; domestic and global businesses,” Commissioner Michael Copps said at the hearing.

He said the commission and federal leaders in general have failed to keep up with the rest of the world in supporting universal broadband access.

“The mind-set has been not to worry, to rely on the marketplace,” Copps said. “But while we all revere the marketplace, there are some things it doesn’t take care of. We need to do what we did in the past – provide incentives to the private sector.”

Copps pointed to governments providing incentives for private companies for the building of physical infrastructure, such as railroads and highways.

Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said more federal leadership is necessary before broadband access will increase.

“It has to come from the White House and down the line,” he said. “It needs to be a goal, a priority with benchmarks. We should make broadband the dial tone of the 21st century.”