Colorado Eyeing ‘No Access’ Broadband Map

Colorado residents and businesses frustrated by a lack of broadband connectivity in the state's rural areas may have some hope on the horizon. A bill is circulating in the Colorado General Assembly that would require the state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and Office of Information Technology (OIT) to identify and map communities that don’t have sufficient build-out of broadband networks. The mapping would have to be done by Jan. 1, 2013. Colorado Senate Bill 12-129, sponsored by Sen. Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass Village) also would require development of a strategy to increase broadband access to those areas. The work done to uncover communities with limited or no access to high-speed Internet will be done using existing PUC and OIT broadband data and mapping information.