Broadband Grants Totaling $1.8 Billion Announced
Scores of stimulus grants to extend broadband infrastructure to underserved Americans were announced today by the departments of Commerce and Agriculture as part of an effort to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural areas.
Grants totaling $1.8 billion for 94 projects in 37 states are aimed at both job creation and technology expansion, Commerce Secretary Locke and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack said in a conference call announcing the latest round of funding from a $7.2 billion pot for broadband projects that was included in last year's Recovery Act.
"These projects will connect Americans who have for too long been without the full economic, educational and social benefits of high-speed Internet access - access central to success in the 21st century," Locke said.
Locke said 36 percent of Americans are without access to high-speed Internet services. "That is simply unacceptable," he said. The 66 projects announced today by the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration will develop 25,000 miles of new broadband networks, providing access to 19 million households and 1.8 million businesses, he said.
Vilsack said nearly half the people living in rural areas lack access to broadband services. The 28 awards provided today from USDA's Rural Utilities Service will extend infrastructure to 1.2 million households, he said.
Noteworthy among the funded projects are five new networks for public safety services, such as a $38.7 million project in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M., that will enable streaming of patient data from paramedics to hospitals and other types of data transmission.
Satellite services are also being funded for the first time in four projects, including a $7.5 million award to Spacenet, Inc., to provide broadband service to rural customers in Alaska and Hawaii.
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