America’s First National Broadband Map Released

The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) along ‎with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the America’s first national ‎broadband map. The map clearly indicates that 5 to 10 per cent of the American ‎population does not have access to even basic facilities like emails, downloading ‎websites, photos, etc. simply because the needed infrastructure facilities have not been ‎provided in those areas.‎

Open source soft wares OpenGeo Suite and WordPress were used for developing the ‎application, and the agencies involved would be updating the information regularly every ‎six months. The areas that lack these facilities would be targeted and facilities would be ‎extended in due course. Consumers can also compare the services available and report ‎about the speeds provided so that the services and facilities could be improved based on ‎growing needs.‎

Current coverage of US homes availing broadband services was 68.2% as against 63.5% ‎a year ago. However, the adoption rates in rural areas continued to be poor. Schools and ‎Libraries had access to lower bandwidth speeds than prescribed.‎

Around 1600 operators provide broadband related services in the USA. The Broadband ‎mapping project would entail an expenditure of $200 million in the next five years.‎