Fifteenth Quarterly Status Report to Congress Regarding BTOP

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) provides this Quarterly Report on the status of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). This Report focuses on BTOP’s activities from July 1 to September 30, 2012.

From July to September 2012, NTIA’s broadband grant recipients continued to demonstrate strong performance and helped to achieve the Program’s FY12 goals. A few projects also completed their activities during this quarter on budget and on schedule, delivering the promised benefits to communities. These positive results have helped the Program deliver significant progress in areas such as new fiber-optic infrastructure construction, the opening of new Public Computer Centers, training to drive broadband adoption, and thousands of new broadband subscribers now experiencing the benefits of high-speed Internet service.

Recipients deployed more than 6,500 network miles during the past quarter, bringing the total number of miles in FY12 to more than 78,000. This performance substantially exceeded NTIA’s FY12 goal to deploy 50,000 new or upgraded network miles across the country.

Last quarter, BTOP recipients connected and/or improved service to more than 1,200 community anchor institutions, which is an increase of 12 percent from last quarter and brings the total number of institutions connected to more than 11,200 across 45 states and territories.

Public Computer Centers recipients continued to make considerable progress last quarter, exceeding the FY12 goal to install 35,000 new or upgraded public workstations. Recipients installing workstations also continue to develop and implement training programs and educational courses, including workforce development training. During the quarter, public computer centers provided 1.3 million hours of training to 371,000 users. Through September 2012, 37 BTOP recipients reported that more than 510,000 households and 12,000 businesses subscribed to broadband services after receiving digital literacy classes or job training. New subscribers for the past quarter totaled more than 134,000.

During the fourth quarter of FY12, BTOP recipients spent more than $365 million in Federal grant funds. These funds were matched by recipient contributions of nearly $115 million. Cumulatively, Federal outlays for the Program totaled $2.3 billion, while total recipient matching contributions exceeded $900 million.