Colorado launches website to map broadband patterns

Colorado will use a website gathering public input to help map where in the state high-speed Internet is available and at what speeds. The www.connectcolorado.org website, a joint effort of the state government and the nonprofit group Connected Nation, has launched to help with the broadband mapping project the state first started organizing two years ago. The website is meant to help verify speeds and augment information about broadband access that the state once hoped to get from telecom and cable TV companies. Colorado wants the information to eventually determine how to get broadband access — and the economic benefits that flow from it — to areas that lack high-speed Internet. Michael Locatis, chief information officer of Colorado, in a written statement urged state residents to log in because wiring more of the state with broadband is a financial boost. Connected Nation features players from some of telecom's biggest companies, lobbying groups and industry associations on its board of directors, and it has raised money from the nonprofit arms of AT&T and power utilities. That has led to questions about the nonprofit's mapping assistance because it's collecting data about broadband access that telecom providers already should know.