In a report issued on December 17 by the National Economic Council said that “broadband investments will create tens of thousands of jobs and stimulate the economy in the near term.”
The NEC Broadband Report, entitled “Recovery Act Investments in Broadband: Leveraging Federal Dollars to Create Jobs and Connect America,” continues: “By providing broadband-enabled opportunities to previously underserved communities, these investments will also lay the foundation for long-term regional economic development.”
The report summarizes three major categories of broadband investment: middle-mile, community anchor institutions and last-mile connections “to rural America.”
The report downplays one key segment of broadband expenditures – “sustainable broadband” – targeted by the Recovery Act.
In the report, “middle mile” investments are seen as critical. “Investments in the ‘middle mile’ extend the reach of the Internet into communities that would otherwise lack adequate access to broadband and its many opportunities. Moreover, Recovery Act middle-mile projects are specifically designed to improve connections to community institutions such as schools, hospitals, and libraries in order to enhance the quality of their critical services and reach large numbers of people.”
“By focusing on these institutions,” the report continues, “federal investment will connect more workers to broadband at their jobs, empower more children with digital skills through schools and libraries, and lead to increased broadband adoption in homes and businesses.”
The report also analogies current federal investments in broadband infrastructure to the government’s traditional investments in the Internet’s backbone.
The report quotes President Obama as saying, on September 21, 2009, that “one key to strengthening education, entrepreneurship, and innovation in communities… is to harness the full power of the Internet, and that means faster and more widely available broadband.”
Full report is here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/20091217-recovery-act-investments-broadband.pdf
