Texas Department of Agriculture selects non-profit organization to map state for broadband availability

July 28, 2009
North Texas e-News

AUSTIN – Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples announced today Connected Nation has been selected to measure and map the availability and use of broadband in the state of Texas.

“We are excited about this new partnership,” Commissioner Staples said. “Connected Nation will help Texas close the digital divide between urban and rural communities in our state. By creating a broadband map, we will learn what areas are unserved and underserved. This critical knowledge will lead to developing projects that bring high-speed Internet to all Texans, which will enhance economic development, expand educational opportunities and improve health care.”

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Connected Nation Gives Real Time Visibility To Broadband Penetration

July 21, 2009
TMCnet
by Vivek Naik

Connected Nation reportedly announced it has created broadband coverage maps with the help of a Geographic Information System solution, ArcGIS, from ESRI, which was originally called the Environmental Systems Research Institute, in an effort to provide competitive advantage during the funding application process for $4 billion in broadband grants and loans available through the U.S. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

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Mapped states hold advantage in getting broadband funds

July 21, 2009
Washington Watch
By Tim Doyle

Providers in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and other states with their own broadband maps might be at a tremendous advantage in accessing billions of dollars for high-speed Internet lines.

The $7.2 billion allocated for broadband stimulus is set to be disbursed by September 2010. However, an associated effort to create a national broadband map of availability, speed and pricing is not slated to be completed until February 2011.

Therefore, states that made their own broadband maps will hold a distinct advantage over those that lack details on availability and other key data.

"I don't think there's any way around that," Brian Mefford, CEO of the nonprofit Connected Nation, told SNL Kagan in an interview. "Any provider that's interested has the data to validate their application."

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Rural high-speed Internet gets a boost

July 4, 2009
BY RICK PLUMLEE
The Wichita Eagle

Dial-up is Jim and Brenda Dooley's only access to the Internet on their farm two miles outside the tiny town of Jewell in north-central Kansas.

That puts the Dooleys at a disadvantage in obtaining necessary marketing and other farm-related information for today's fast-paced agricultural world.

"What we do on the Internet is very limited because of the time it takes to download on dial-up," Brenda said.

Norman and Cindy Roth don't have any Internet access. They've opted not to even try dial-up from their farm about 25 miles west of Hutchinson.

"We don't think it's worth our time or money to sit there and wait on dial-up," Cindy said, "so we've decided to wait until something better comes along."

Something better should be on the way.

The federal stimulus package has made $7.2 billion available to improve rural Internet access.

Of that amount, it was announced this week that $4.7 billion would be set aside for loan and grant programs to develop the infrastructure to bring broadband, or high-speed, Internet access to areas throughout the country that don't have access.

As it stands now, there's only anecdotal information, including in Kansas, on areas without access. So the first step is to establish an accurate map of where broadband exists.

The stimulus package has also allocated $350 million for mapping of U.S. broadband access. The plan calls for 80 percent of the mapping costs be paid with federal money and the remaining 20 percent by individual states through private and public money.

Mapping already has begun in Kansas through a collaboration of the Kansas Farm Bureau and Information Network of Kansas, which are providing some of the mapping funds.

Information Network is a quasi-state agency created by the Legislature in 1990 to provide electronic access to government information and services.

Connected Nation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that works to expand access and use of broadband Internet, has already begun the mapping work in Kansas.

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