Kentucky Wins $2.1 million State Broadband Data and Development Grant

In an effort to expand the availability and use of broadband services throughout the state, Gov. Steve Beshear (D) announced that Kentucky has been awarded a $2.1 million grant to fund broadband mapping and planning.

The State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program, administered by the federal Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). NTIA has awarded the Finance and Administration Cabinet's Commonwealth Office of Technology (COT) approximately $1.6 million for broadband data collection and mapping activities over a two-year period and $500,000 for broadband planning of improvements and expansion activities over a five-year period. The process of evaluating the current accessibility of high-speed Internet access in the state will occur in three phases: the collection of existing broadband services, verification of the collected data and the reporting of the results to the NTIA. Specifically, the statewide assessment will include data on the availability, speed, location and technology type of broadband services. Kentucky's report will be included in a comprehensive, interactive, searchable national broadband map that NTIA is required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to create and make publicly available by Feb. 17, 2011.

Information will be collected from public and private broadband providers throughout the state by Michael Baker Corporation, a nationally recognized engineering firm specializing in geographic information systems (GIS) mapping. Michael Baker Corporation has also mapped broadband availability in California and North Carolina.

http://governor.ky.gov/pressrelease.htm?PostingGUID={B02F257E-1D32-4090-A252-7BE479A2A4FC}