It has been revealed in a recent report that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is working with officials in fourteen states to discuss proposals for broadband funding.
According to a recent report the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to work with officials at libraries in fourteen different states in America in order to discuss broadband funding for the states. The broadband funding will form part of this year’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which involves making economic stimulus money available.
Amongst the states that the Gates Foundation will be working with in order to develop proposals to secure broadband funding under the Act is Alaska. It is thought that next year the National Telecommunications and Information Administration will be awarding grants, with the money being used to improve broadband infrastructure and extend broadband to more communities.
The money from the grants will also be used to help new Internet users to benefit from access to broadband, and the money will be made available through the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. The State librarian in Alaska said that it will most likely be spring when the state makes its application for grant funding.
She said that her goal was to “benefit those community libraries across the state that have slowest bandwidth for Internet connections. The Alaska State Library will reach out to those libraries to seek their participation in the project.” She added: “For many Alaskans, their public library is the place to get connected to the online information and services they need. However, our bandwidth studies show that many Alaskan public libraries have connection speeds that are inadequate for high-quality Internet use.”
Source – TMC Net