---

---

Released: February 11, 2009

Why spend $350 million to map broadband?

Source: Saul Hansell, NY Times (Free Registration)

Deep inside the stimulus bill that passed the Senate Tuesday is an allocation of up to $350 million for making a “nationwide inventory map of existing broadband service capability and availability in the United States.” This map, members of Congress say, will be helpful in making sure that the $7 billion in proposed grants to bring high speed Internet service to rural areas are handed out where they are most needed. On first glance, that seems like a lot of money to find out who can get broadband and who can’t. After all, can’t pretty much any Internet provider tell you over the phone or on its Web site whether it offers service? Of course it can. But that doesn’t mean it will give the same information to the government. And some advocacy groups are arguing that the stimulus bill needs a provision that will force cable and phone companies to disclose more data in order to make this broadband map more accurate and cheaper to produce.

Read Full Article: Why spend $350 million to map broadband?