Broadband Data Bill Faces Implementation Hurdles

[Commentary] Sometime next year, the new Administration will start to figure out a plan for collecting information about where broadband is, and how to increase deployment. The delay will be necessary because while Congress passed the bill to improve broadband data collection, S. 1492, there isn't any money actually set aside to pay for the program. Until appropriations bills are passed for the next fiscal year, FY 2010, which starts Oct. 1, 2009, there won't be any money. As a result, it could be calendar year 2010 before any program gets going. The legislation is by no means a broadband policy any more than a thermometer is a cure for an illness. Having some measurement of a problem is good. However, there are some parts to the bill that raise questions about how effective the data mapping and broadband cheerleading in the bill will be. However, the advantage of having such a delay in implementation is that there will be lots of work to be done in order to make this program useful.