(NAFB) – The lack of broadband mapping remains a key hurdle to the successful rural deployment of internet technology, but one industry hand says efforts underway to figure out where the gaps are, are now moving at top speed. Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio
Rural Broadband Association CEO Shirley Bloomfield says no one really knows where the unserved and underserved areas are.
Referring to the 65 billion dollars for broadband deployment in the Senate-passed infrastructure bill that now goes to the House and the newly announced USDA ReConnect grants. But Bloomfield says the good news is that Congress earlier released mapping money.
And Bloomfield says those efforts are now moving at break-neck speed, given the funding came late. But once the FCC, USDA, and Commerce’s NTIA have the maps, they can answer the key question.
Clearing supply chain bottlenecks for equipment, agency coordination, and fixing grant administration issues will all be key in finally closing the ‘digital divide’ separating rural and urban America.