Map High-speed Internet Infrastructure

Deploying broadband and related communication technologies, including smart meters in the home and smart grids to upgrade our power grid, have the potential of revolutionizing energy management and economic development, according to a new report by the Progressive States Network released in association with our partners, Communications Workers of America, the Sierra Club and the Blue Green Alliance. Last Thursday, leaders from those organizations convened at a panel on Capitol Hill, hosted by U.S. Representative Edward Markey, Chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, and joined by Nick Sinai, Director of Energy and Environment for the FCC's Broadband Strategy Plan, to discuss the findings of the report entitled Networking the Green Economy

This Dispatch highlights the trends in the initial grants when it comes to mapping, deployment and adoption broadband, outline broadband policies that states have been pursuing (using federal and state funding), and why these broadband investments are so critical to the long-term economy of our states.

With the passage of  HB 1701 the Washington State legislature once again demonstrated its understandingthat when combating the digital divide states must not just addressaccess issues, but must also focus on dealing with the barriers to broadband adoption by individuals.

Congress has passed — and President Bush has signed — the Broadband Data Improvement Act.  The Act, which had been pushed by Senate Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and supported by a coalition of organizations, such as the Communications Workers of America,has as its explicit purpose "to improve the quality of Federal and State data regarding the availability and quality of broadband servicesand to promote the deployment of affordable broadband services to allparts of the Nation." 

Despite claims by the Bush administration that most Americans now have access to affordable broadband, many people might disagree and would probably argue that their Internet access is to slow and to expensive.  Most analysts are nowhere near as optimistic as Bush's "Networked Nation: Broadband in America." These analysts highlight that the U.S. has fallen to 15th in world rankings for broadband connectivity and that Americans pay much higher fees for much slower speeds than most of the industrial nations in the world.  Misguided regulatory policies and substandard infrastructure have helped create a sub-parbroadband network in the United States.