Biden made the announcement at an event in Dawsonville, Georgia alongside Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue. Currently $183 million of the funding has been made available for eighteen broadband projects in seventeen states. These funds have been matched by the public and private sector capital to the tune of $46 million.
The goal of the awards is to create jobs bringing broadband to the communities in the infrastructure and manufacturing sectors, as well as create new jobs in the community, thanks to having broadband access, that otherwise would not have been created. Vice President Biden stated
‘"New broadband access means more capacity and better reliability in rural areas and underserved urban communities around the country. Businesses will be able to improve their customer service and better compete around the world . . . This is what the Recovery Act is all about - sparking new growth, tapping into the ingenuity of the American people and giving folks the tools they need to help build a new economy in the 21st-century."The projects receiving the funds will be disbursed through the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration as well as through the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service. “The awards are designed to help underserved - and often hard-hit - communities overcome the distance and technology barrier by expanding connectivity between educational institutions, enabling remote medical consultations and attracting new businesses - as well as the jobs that come with them.”
Governor Perdue stated, ‘“Broadband is the new dial tone of the 21st-century . . . Internet access is as important to our communications infrastructure today as reliable telephone service was a century ago.”’
Indeed, the National Economic Council release a report last week entitled “Recovery Act Investment in Broadband: Leveraging Federal Dollars to Create Jobs and Connect America.” The report found that investments in broadband “will create tens of thousands of jobs in the near term and expand opportunities and economic development in communities that would otherwise be left behind [.]”
To read the news release, which contains a list of projects, click here.
To read the National Economic Council report, click here.
Posted: 12/23/09
