Broadband's Impact

Rural Telecommunications Congress Members Release Report on 50 State Broadband Initiative Entities

Published

6 years ago

April 10, 2014

AUSTIN, Texas, April 10, 2014 - Members of the Rural Telecommunications Congress on Thursday released a comprehensive report on the state of the 50 State Broadband Initiative entities.

The report was compiled by Galen Updike, immediate past president of the RTC, with the assistance of state broadband leaders. It assembles data about the programs of the governmental and non-profit entities that have been engaged in broadband mapping and planning over the past five years.

Among the questions that the report seeks to address, for each of the 50 states, are the following:

[Is there an] ongoing State BB Leadership Org or Council to Coordinate with Rural BB Champions and Providers ?
Is the State BB Map Identifying deficit areas per identified standards available for use by the public and Policy makers?
Are State and Regional BB Plans created and being widely used?
Is there a Separate State BB PPO for Financing, Bonding & Grants in Deficit areas?
Are there State Funding Programs for Matching [dollars] and for Financing grants/loans to Political subs & Providers?
Is Formal Coordination taking place with State PUC to reduce Regulatory barriers for providers?
Is there adequate Collaboration W/ Rural political sub-divisions on ROW issues and for Aggregation of Demand for Providers?
Is there Formal State Collaboration with Health & Education Institutions (USF LEA's) to optimize FCC subsidies?
Are there Sustainable Infrastructure Programs directed at Unserved and Underserved through a State USF fee?
Is there frequent Legislative Collaboration for BB Policy Initiatives and Program Leadership Funding?

The report is a prelude to the discussion on "The Bandwidth of the States," which will be kicked off in a keynote address by Anne Neville, the program director of SBI of the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The formal program for Thursday's event is available online:

The report about broadband in the states by Galen Updike, broken into more than a dozen data-sets and spreadsheets, is available at the following links:

10-Cover page to Attributes Workbook