A Look Ahead to 2012: NTIA by the Numbers

In the coming year, the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will continue its focus on three key areas: expanding high speed Internet access and adoption, freeing up more spectrum for wireless broadband, and promoting policies that preserve the Internet as an engine for innovation and economic growth. Here are some numbers to illustrate these challenges.

• 80 percent: Approximate amount of Fortune 500 companies that only accept job applications online;
• 60-plus percent: Amount of working Americans who use the Internet as an integral part of their jobs ;
• 1 in 3 U.S. households lack high-speed Internet service–that’s more than 100 million Americans cut off from many economic and educational opportunities;
• 1 in 5 U.S. households don’t use the Internet anywhere–that’s more than 60 million Americans left behind in the 21st century economy.

Thanks to funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, NTIA is investing nearly $4 billion in about 230 projects to expand broadband access and adoption in communities nationwide. These grant projects are building and upgrading broadband infrastructure, expanding and improving public computer centers, and promoting broadband adoption through computer training and other approaches. Together these investments are laying the groundwork for sustainable economic growth, creating jobs, and preparing more Americans for the 21st century workforce.

Grantees report so far:

• 29,000: Miles of broadband infrastructure deployed or upgraded;
• 24,000: New workstations installed in public computer centers;
• 755,000: Hours of training provided in the last quarter alone;
• 220,000: People who received the training in the last quarter;
• 230,000: New broadband subscribers.