Internet Overbuilding Gets Rural Accent at Senate Hearing

The issue of overbuilding got a lot of attention in a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing on "The Impact[s] of Broadband Investments in Rural America." Overbuilding existing commercial service with government money has long been one of Internet service providers biggest issues with how government broadband subisidies are administered. Subcommittee Chairman John thune (R-SD) said with both the US Dept of Agricutlure and Federal Communications Commission providing broadband funding, he could see how the money could be "inadvertently used" to overbuild. He asked whether Congress should require agencies to coordinate to avoid "wasteful overbuilding." Other issues getting attention were the need for coordination between agencies to avoid "nonduplicity" among programs and the need for more accurate broadband maps.