Many now believe that the money allocated to the project to find where access to broadband internet is available in the US and the speed it runs at was something Congress were too enthusiastic about when it passed the national stimulus package back in February.
To be able to expand high-speed internet services throughout the US and guide policies related to this, as much as $350 million was set aside in order to create a national broadband map as part of the $787 billion stimulus package that was put forward by the Obama administration.
As smaller efforts were already underway for this many in the telecommunication industry felt that the figure of $350 million was a little on the high side and this was made worse by the fact that when is came time to spend most of the $7.2 billion in stimulus money allocated for broadband-base projects the map would not even be complete.
Although there has been no clear idea of how the final cost of this project will be it is believed that it will not be the projected £350 million in the end.
Over $100 million will initially be spent and then the project will be reassessed in order to make sure the money is used “in a fiscally prudent manner,” according to a recent statement from the national Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Requests for project funding that would see the mapping of broadband service in specific US stated over a period of two year came to $107 million according to the agency, which is part of the Commerce Department. Projects that included ways to encourage demand for broadband services, which would run over 5 years, saw the states requesting a further $26 million.
The costs estimated by the smaller mapping programs in individual states look to be far lower that the government broadband mapping project, although it has confirmed that the overall cost will be lower than the cap of $350 million put in place by Congress.
Source – Google