This week, NTIA posted the most recent quarterly reports of BTOP recipients. It’s terrific to see these projects really begin to take off – from public computer centers opening, to infrastructure project groundbreakings, to sustainable broadband adoption training beginning – the benefits are becoming more and more visible.

For example, South Dakota Network’s $21 million infrastructure project began construction at several sites already, and construction is being accelerated into 2011. Also, the North Florida Broadband Authority’s $30 million infrastructure project has taken off in the last quarter: despite initial delays, its technical work over the last few months has resulted in the project exceeding the reliability and capacity hoped for in its application – at lower cost to boot.

Michigan State University’s Round 1 Public Computer Center project is rolling into the home stretch – it is running ahead of schedule and will essentially be complete by the end of this month. The computer centers upgraded so far are showing higher usership than anticipated, which validates the University’s Round 2 award to extend the Round 1 project significantly.

And One Community’s $19 million multi-state Sustainable Broadband Adoption project is also gaining momentum – project administrators and supervisors have been hired, training curriculum was developed, outreach to 130,000 people was conducted, and digital literacy training began for 1,100 people.

NTIA and the Department of Commerce's Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) recently released a report that analyzes broadband Internet adoption and use across the United States. “Exploring the Digital Nation,” the new study, finds that although socio-economic factors like income and education are strongly associated with broadband Internet use, they are not the sole determinants of adoption. Even after accounting for socio-economic factors, significant gaps in broadband adoption persist along racial, ethnic, and geographic lines. For example, White households had higher broadband adoption rates than African American and Hispanic households, and urban residents were more likely than their rural counterparts to adopt broadband Internet, even after adjusting for socio-economic factors.

Americans who did not use the Internet at all – whether inside or outside the home – most commonly cited lack of interest or need as the primary reason. In contrast, those who lacked the Internet at home but who did use it elsewhere most commonly cited affordability as the reason they were not subscribers, as did those who only had dial-up Internet access at home.

The report’s findings are based on data collected through a survey of approximately 54,000 households and 129,000 citizens – the largest survey of its kind. Commissioned by NTIA and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the survey provides compelling information on the state of broadband Internet use across America, including an unprecedented level of examination of Internet adoption by persons with disabilities.

In addition, the report makes a pioneering use of regression analysis, adjusting the findings for socio-economic factors in order to achieve a greater understanding of the digital divide.

Now that all the broadband stimulus grants have been awarded I’d like to spend a few moments discussing what we’ve accomplished and what lies ahead. In less than 20 months, NTIA built a multi-billion dollar grant program from the ground up. This is the largest grant program that NTIA has ever managed and is one of the largest ever managed at the Department of Commerce. We had to hire staff, build the information systems, develop the rules, perform due diligence on the proposals, and award over $4 billion in grants, all before this past September 30. At every step of the way, we solved the challenges that arose, we answered the skeptics who said we would never get the money out, and ended up with what I think is a very solid set of sustainable projects that will not only expand broadband access and adoption but will also lead to economic growth and job creation. These projects will also continue to pay dividends far into the future in the form of improved education and health care, heightened innovation, and long-term local, national, and global economic growth.

Let me summarize our portfolio of projects. We funded four types of projects: infrastructure, public computer centers, sustainable broadband adoption projects, and state broadband data and development initiatives. These projects reach every state and territory and will:

• Fund the construction or upgrade of approximately 120,000 miles of broadband networks.
• Provide broadband access to approximately 24,000 community anchor institutions, including schools, libraries, government offices, health care facilities, and public safety entities. Of these, approximately:
• 3,000 are healthcare entities, including hospitals, clinics, and physicians’ offices
• 5,000 are public safety entities, such as first responders, fire, police, and EMS
• 7,000 are K-12 schools
• 600 are community colleges
• 2,000 are libraries

By Laura Breedon, BTOP Program Director for Public Computing and Broadband Adoption

Last week, Dr. Jill Biden hosted the first ever White House Summit on Community Colleges, at which President Obama spoke.

The summit brought together community colleges, businesses, philanthropic organizations, federal and state policy leaders, and faculty and students to discuss how community colleges can help meet the job training and education needs of the American workforce.

Here at NTIA we are well aware of the critical role these anchor institutions play in their communities, and investing in broadband technologies for these institutions is a top priority. In fact, BTOP projects plan to directly connect approximately 600 community colleges across the country to broadband. These are among the 24,000 community anchor institutions that will be connected via BTOP projects.

The projects will provide high-speed connections that will enable students and faculty to use remote data sets, simulations, and other tools to learn and practice new skills as well as to collaborate with other classrooms in real-time. They will also improve education by bringing distance learning to schools in remote areas, enabling students to conduct online research, and helping teachers and parents to communicate with one another.

BTOP projects will also support public computer centers; jobs skills, computer, and workforce development training; and digital literacy initiatives on community college campuses throughout the United States. Some examples: