We’re still waiting for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to name the first-round recipients of broadband network construction stimulus grants. The holdup is making potential grant winners antsy – they need the cash and once they get it, they won’t have much time to meet deadline requirements. However, NTIA has made progress on a related and important front: broadband mapping. Admittedly, the idea of broadband mapping grants lacks sex appeal. But the money will fulfill two critical aims, and that should make the mapping projects more alluring to communications service providers and equipment makers.
Four states learned early this month they are receiving more than $1 million each to collect and verify the availability and speed of high-speed Internet inside their borders. California, Indiana, North Carolina and Vermont will gather the data over the next two years. Then they, along with policymakers and the communications industry, will use it to pinpoint where to beef up broadband access.
Almost all of the money comes from this year’s multibillion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) – $7.2 billion was allocated for broadband initiatives. Even so, the four states are required to kick in at least 20 percent in non-federal matching funds toward the mapping efforts. Combined, those dollars will achieve two goals.
The first, and most immediate, is job creation/continuation. Mapping experts will have to travel throughout their states, pumping money into the restaurant, hotel, fuel and, likely, subcontractor industries. The states also will rely on Internet and satellite technologies, fueling demand among manufacturers and service providers.
More long-term, though, is that the information gleaned will help feed the development of a national broadband plan. As part of the ARRA, Congress has instructed NTIA and the FCC to prepare a strategy by Feb. 17, 2010. And while “national broadband plan,” like its mapping counterpart, sounds humdrum, the opportunities that will be opened once the nation’s broadband holes are identified will be significant and far-reaching.
Larry Strickling, head of NTIA, said as much on Oct. 5 when he named California, Indiana, North Carolina and Vermont as mapping grant winners.
“Broadband will bring many benefits to the nation, such as job creation and innovation, but these benefits have been delayed by the lack of comprehensive, reliable data on the availability of broadband service,” Strickling said. “This program addresses an important need and will provide a valuable tool in bringing broadband and jobs to more Americans.”
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