There were 22.4 million small businesses in the United States in 2001 (Office of Advocacy, SBA). Of those, a considerable 72.6 percent or 16.3 million can be safely viewed as sole proprietorships (Economic Census, 1997). The use of telecommunications should be documented, given the intensity of current debates (Tauzin-Dingell Bill before Congress, and the universal service and local competition proceedings before the Federal Communications Commission, for example) and the enormous impact that telecommunications has on small businesses. Small businesses consume an enormous amount and variety of telecommunications services, including local landline, long distance, and wireless technologies. Small business use of telecommunications must be accurately documented, as they are the businesses most vulnerable to the negative effects of ongoing proceedings. Only through understanding small businesses telecommunications usage can effective advocacy on their behalf occur. As an example, it would be useful to know what types of telecommunications services a small business uses: landlines, cellular, etc? Within landlines, one can imagine a small business having phone lines, DSL lines, or even T1 or T3 lines. It would be useful to know how telecommunications services are dispersed and how they differ by size (number of employees) and by location (rural or urban).

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