WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration released details on
Thursday of a $2 billion program in grants and loans to help
dramatically expand Americans' broadband Internet access and create
tens of thousands of jobs.
The funds, to be released over the next 75 days, are among $7.2
billion set aside in President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic
recovery package to bring broadband access to unserved or underserved
U.S. communities.
Vice President Joe Biden, at an event in Dawsonville, Georgia,
announced details of an initial $183 million investment in broadband
projects in 17 states.
"New broadband access means more capacity and better reliability in
rural areas and underserved urban communities around the country,"
Biden said in a statement.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans have adopted broadband at home, while
one-third have access but have not adopted it, and 4 percent say they
have no access where they live, according to the Federal Communications
Commission.
Biden's chief economist, Jared Bernstein, told reporters in a
briefing the administration was unable to provide more precise figures
on exactly how many jobs would be created, but White House officials
said "tens of thousands of jobs" could be created in the near term.
The FCC held an open meeting on Wednesday to provide an update on
its national broadband plan due to be submitted to Congress in
February. FCC staff stopped short of making formal recommendations
because they are still gathering data on which to base their final
report.
'PLATFORM FOR ECONOMIC PROSPERITY'
Officials said on Thursday that broadband expansion projects aimed
to link communities to the "Internet backbone," a network of large,
high-bandwidth fiber-optic cables that span the country.
They said the grants and loans, being released by the departments of
Commerce and Agriculture, would help expand broadband for education,
healthcare and providing workers the flexibility to work from home.
"The community is part of the solution to the national broadband
strategy," said Craig Settles, president of broadband strategy
consulting firm Successful.com.
With the rest of the U.S. economy stuck in the doldrums and shedding
jobs, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has said the technology sector
has been going in the other direction.
"Because of its power to propel innovation, broadband can be our
platform for economic prosperity," Genachowski said in a December 1
speech on technology innovation.
Officials announced four different types of awards:
- $121.6 million to build and improve connections to communities lacking sufficient broadband access.
- $51.4 million to connect end users like homes, hospitals and
schools to their community's broadband infrastructure (the middle mile).
- $7.3 million to expand computer center capacity for public use in libraries, community colleges and other public venues.
- $2.4 million to fund innovative projects that promote broadband
demand with population groups where the technology has traditionally
been underutilized.