IfG.CC - The Institute for eGovernment

As healthcare professionals rely more on electronic medical records, tests, images, videos and other multimedia files, high-speed broadband networks have increasingly become a necessary way to transfer and move this data. Unfortunately, however, rural hospitals and clinics have had a difficult time keeping pace with the need for new networks and fiber optic technologies.

Though it isn’t known what Kearney Public Library will receive, it anticipates more computers, scanners, software and training, according to Library Director Matthew Williams.

“What we asked for were some replacement computers and new computers, but we don’t know if that is what we’ll receive at this time,” Williams said.

For example, do you think your children would receive an education comparable to suburban youths who have unlimited service? Would your in-home health care (tele-medicine) service options be limited? Would the local business economy thrive and grow in this environment and help generate high paying tele-worker jobs and in-home businesses?

The broadband availability map will allow citizens to learn about the broadband resources available in their area, and will also highlight areas in the state where broadband is lacking. According to Governor Jim Gibbons, these gaps are were the government will work to increase access through public-private partnerships.

"High-speed Internet is directly related to business development and is a critical lifeline to vital services like telemedicine and education," Commissioner Staples said. "Every Texan should have the opportunity to drive in the fast lane on the information superhighway; however, some Texans are stuck on a dirt road. This new statewide broadband map will help us bridge the digital divide for rural communities and households that remain unserved by broadband service."

Despite boasting one of the world’s premier centers for science and research at Los Alamos National Laboratory and experiencing a recent population boom, New Mexico remains far behind the rest of the country in broadband and digital deployment. According to a report by the Kauffman Foundation and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, the state ranks 46th in percentage of internet users, 49th in e-government, and 36th in broadband telecommunications.

Commerce officials said the project will connect more than 120 community “anchor institutions” to broadband service — including public safety facilities, K-12 schools, community colleges, government buildings, health care providers and libraries — which will support distance learning, telemedicine and improved public safety communications.

Though the project is only being explored at this time, the transportation authority is interested in providing Wi-Fi coverage at stations and in passenger cars of the Long Island Rail Road, which runs between New York City and Long Island; and the Metro-North Commuter Railroad, which operates between New York City and northern suburbs. According to the transportation authority, it's considering granting a license for the development of a commercial network.

Wireless high-speed Internet access will be offered free to 100 households in Chateaugay and Burke with hopes to expand to the underserved and most-rural portions of the region.

Franklin County was selected to host a pilot project to bring free high-speed Internet access to rural areas where there is little or no service.

Chateaugay and Burke will be the first communities to try it with hopes to expand to the Saranac Lake-Tupper Lake area as well as Bombay, Fort Covington and beyond.

The program was funded by a government grant of $9,521,150 and $5,418,370 in matching stimulus funds and a $244,000 grant to be dispersed over the next two years. The state funds will be used to create the public computer centers in 30 public libraries and five E-mobile computer training units.

As part of the partnership, NIC will support Connected Nation's effort to get better online access and services to more people and students currently underserved. Connected Nation, a national 501(c)3 non-profit, has garnered international, industry-wide recognition as a best-practice model for broadband expansion, the groups noted.

Improving broadband Internet availability and expanding access to online government services to rural areas is the catalyst for eGovernment leader NIC (NASDAQ: EGOV) joining the Connected Nation Partner Program. As part of the partnership, NIC is excited to support Connected Nation’s effort to get better online access and services to more people and students currently underserved. Connected Nation, a national 501(c)3 non-profit, has garnered international, industry-wide recognition as a best-practice model for broadband expansion.

First electricity...next the telephone...now the government wants to help bring the Internet to rural areas.

North Augusta is one area chosen for the project. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has partnered with Open Range Communications, providing a loan that will help supply broadband Internet access to rural areas. People living in North Augusta have mixed feelings about the project.

The bill, which is supported by cable and broadband industries, would prohibit cities from cross-subsidizing communications with other governmental funds.

In 2009, the Public Utilities Committee, chaired by Rep. Lorene Coates, D-Rowan, voted to have a committee look at the bill, which is called House Bill 1252.

Hundreds of residents and businesses in Traill County are in line to receive high-speed Internet connections in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s largest-ever distribution of funding for rural broadband.

Halstad Telephone Co. will receive slightly more than $4 million in a federal stimulus grant and loan package to provide broadband Internet and video service to customers the Minnesota company serves in Traill County, the USDA and members of North Dakota’s congressional delegation announced Monday.

Installation will take a maximum of three years and create approximately 700 jobs during construction and 40 permanent jobs. The new fiber will provide high-speed Internet access to approximately 215 public schools, 30 health care facilities and 10 community colleges, along with countless homes and businesses, according to a press release from Gov. Jay Nixon.

Der künftige US-Präsident Barack Obama hat die größte Investition in die Infrastruktur des Landes seit dem Bau des Autobahnnetzes in den 50er Jahren angekündigt.

Unter anderem soll die Versorgung mit Breitband-Internet ausgebaut werden, wie er am Samstag in einer Radioansprache erläuterte.

It’s a well-known lament that America’s broadband performance badly lags the rest of the world’s. Household adoption rates are mediocre compared with those of other OECD countries, and subscription prices are scandalously higher than even the super-speed nirvanas of South Korea and Japan.

Mainly this is a curse of geography. Vast, suburbanized America is pricier to equip with high-speed fiber or wireless than densely populated Asia. But unlike in many countries, the government also lacks clout over the telecommunications sector, leaving private operators such as Verizon and AT&T to upgrade aging copper networks on their own time.

A total of $44.8 million will go to OneCommunity, a nonprofit Internet provider in Cleveland that plans to nearly double its fiberoptics network, to 2,300 miles in 27 counties. That will include 111 miles of new fiberoptic in Cuyahoga County.

OneCommunity expects 800 new subscribers -- colleges, hospitals, universities and governmental entities -- to tie into the network.

Hocking, Vinton and Perry counties joined together to form a plan to get coverage in the area.

"Broadband is a utility and needs to be treated like one," Brent Runge, retiring director of Hocking County 911 operations said. Runge is spearheading the campaign for Hocking County.