Broadband Mapping Grant for New Jersey

The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced that it has awarded a grant to fund broadband mapping and planning activities in New Jersey under NTIA's State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program. NTIA has awarded the New Jersey Office of Information Technology approximately $1.5 million for broadband data collection and mapping activities over a two-year period and $500,000 for broadband planning activities over a five -year period in New Jersey, bringing the total grant award to approximately $2 million. The Office of Information Technology is the designated entity for the state of New Jersey.

Awardees will collect and verify the availability, speed, and location of broadband across the state. This activity is to be conducted on a semi-annual basis between 2009 and 2011, with the data to be presented in a clear and accessible format to the public, government, and the research community. The State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program is a matching grant program that implements the joint purposes of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA). The program will provide grants to assist states or their designees in gathering and verifying state-specific data on the availability, speed, location, and technology type of broadband services. The data they collect and compile will also be used to develop publicly available state-wide broadband maps and to inform the comprehensive, interactive, and searchable national broadband map that NTIA is required by the Recovery Act to create and make publicly available by February 17, 2011.