Space fighting for better broadband access

WHIZ NEWS

18th District US Congressman Zack Space is working to improve broadband access across Southeastern Ohio.

An application was submitted for stimulus money. Space says 7.2 billion dollars of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going toward broadband access for areas that are either unserved or under-served.

"Our hope is that it is because this broadband access is absolutely important, not just for economic development purposes-although that is a big part of it. It also has a quality of life component that is very, very important, " says Space.

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A New Deal for Expanding Broadband Internet Access

by Rick Laezman
Published: April 2010

Channeling the best of the New Deal in its efforts to jumpstart the economy, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing an ambitious program to bring broadband to every household in America.

At a speech in February at the conference of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in Washington, D.C., FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined details of the bold plan. He likened its purpose to that of the Communications Act, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934 when the nation was in the depths of the Great Depression. That landmark policy helped bring affordable access to universal phone service to a nation where previously less than a third of households had enjoyed it.

Drawing a parallel to that transformation, Genachowski pointed out that currently 14 million Americans do not have access to broadband. More than 100 million Americans could or should have broadband access, but do not because they can’t afford it, or they don’t possess the skills or the awareness to use it. Overall, the nation has a dismal 65 percent adoption rate.

Dubbed the “100 Squared” initiative, the goal of the FCC’s program is to provide broadband to 100 million households at a rate of 100 megabits per second, bringing the adoption rate to at least 90 percent.

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