House Dems: GAO Study Demonstrates Success of Broadband Stimulus

House Commerce Committee Democrats were celebrating a new Government Accountability Office study that they say demonstrates the success of the government's various broadband stimulus programs boosting federally funded networks, including municipal.

A trio of California Dems, Commerce Ranking Member Reps Henry Waxman, Nancy Pelosi and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo released the study, which they said showed that small business in areas with federally funded broadband networks were able to get higher quality, faster networks at lower cost.

That federal funding came via the President's broadband stimulus Recovery Act grants and loans (BTOP and BIP), the Federal Communication Commission's Connect America fund and various rural access and telecom loan guarantee programs. The study looked at 14 federally funded and municipal networks, and concluded that they "tended" to be faster than other networks and their prices "slightly" lower.

[March 10]