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One facet of the Obama administration's sweeping stimulus initiatives of which I have taken particular interest is its protracted effort to increase our national broadband access and capabilities. In pursuit of that end, The Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program (BTOP), which seeks to build and enhance broadband access in unserved and underserved regions of our country, has been provided with over $4.5 billion in Recovery Act funds.
I am pleased to report that amazingly, BTOP has already dispensed with much of the red tape that might normally bog down an effort of this magnitude. Large chunks of BTOP funds are beginning to be granted. In the short term, the benefit of this program may well be to create jobs. In the long term, these infrastructure improvements could possibly increase the profit bases of companies such as Verizon Communications (VZ), Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), AT&T (ATT) and a host of other digital communication and entertainment providers.
Many people believe that, in a global economy that is growing increasingly competitive, our nation must continually develop fiber optic and broadband over power line infrastructure, which provides coverage at any point where commerce may require it. My personal experience with half-hearted DSL via Hughesnet has led me to the inevitable conclusion that, at this point, individual wireless connectivity for Internet just isn't going to cut it in our fast-paced business world.
BTOP funds have been released for projects in Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, North Carolina and South Carolina. In a parallel effort, The National Broadband Mapping Program, which is funded with an additional $240 million, has received summaries from 19 grantee states regarding current levels of broadband deployment. These summaries shall be used to help direct appropriate granting of BTOP monies, as well as to create possibly the first ever, publicly available, interactive national broadband map.
In all, these efforts seem to signal that our government recognizes our need for top of the line communication infrastructure. Without that, none of our other efforts at recovery stand much chance of long-range success. This could prove to be a highly effective, ground-level dispersal of much needed development funds, the likes of which we need to see a huge additional volume of.
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