The Communications Workers of America commends Representative Rick Boucher (D-Va.) for his work to ensure that all Americans have access to high quality broadband. Congressman Boucher has called on the Federal Communications Commission to include universal availability of true high speed broadband as part of its National Broadband Plan. Read More »
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced $3.4 million in grants to improve Internet connections of public libraries in Kansas, Arkansas, New York, Virginia, and Massachusetts. Through the Opportunity Online program, the Foundation will partner with fourteen additional states to help libraries compete for broadband stimulus funds. Read More »
Colorado launched a website to gather public input to measure and map the penetration saturation of high-speed Internet throughout the state. The state government and the non-profit organization and Speed Matters partner, Connected Nation, collaborated to develop the website - http://www.connectcolorado.org. Read More »
The FCC is continuing its series of workshops on the state of broadband deployment and adoption throughout the nation. During the first week of September, two workshops focused on state and local government broadband initiatives and recommendations for broadband benchmarks. Participants included officials from various state and local governments, representatives of several non-profit policy organizations, including Speed Matters' partners One Economy and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), as well as academics and industry representatives. Read More »
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia recently gathered 400 business, government and nonprofit leaders at Piedmont Virginia Community College to discuss opportunities for using federal stimulus money for broadband in Virginia. Businesses, individuals, and politicians alike stressed the need and importance of broadband access in communities for all different types of business and educational advancements. In addition to broadband access expansion, part of the federal dollars will be put towards innovation using existing broadband Internet connections. Read More »
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report on rural broadband strategy acknowledges that we do not have the data to determine precisely our rural broadband gaps. The state of Virginia is one of a dozen states proactively to tackle this challenge with comprehensive mapping. Governor Kaine released the state's first broadband availability map, which displays the accessibility of high-speed Internet access in an easy to comprehend manner. The FCC's report continues on to urge better communication among federal agencies, states and other groups with an interest in broadband deployment and adoption. Read More »
The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority (VCEDA) recently awarded two individual million-dollar grants to local non-profit companies for the installation of high-speed fiber-optic broadband lines throughout the southwestern coalfield region of Virginia. Read More »
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a $6.9 million pilot grant to public libraries in seven states today to improve the speed of Internet connections. Read More »
Earlier this week, the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Alliance for Public Technology (APT) co-sponsored a fascinating webcast based on a new joint report from the APT and CWA on current state efforts to expand high speed Internet access. Read More »
New Jersey has the best residential broadband adoption according to the Information Technology Innovation Fund's (ITIF) 2008 State New Economy Index report. Read More »
