NTIA Announces BroadbandUSA Effort to Assist Communities with Broadband Plans

I’m happy to unveil our BroadbandUSA initiative aimed at finding new ways to assist communities seeking to ensure their citizens have the broadband capacity they need to advance economic development, education, health care, and public safety.

As part of BroadbandUSA, we will share the lessons learned and best practices developed by companies, state and local governments, and other organizations that received our grants. We will use everything from toolkits and training programs, to webinars and workshops, to provide technical assistance, funding leads and basic guidance to communities as they grow their broadband capacity and use. We are also releasing a new Public Private Partnership primer, which provides a basic introduction to a variety of partnership models for communities considering new broadband projects. The primer provides a high-level overview of steps to establish partnerships, and presents case studies of successful public-private broadband partnerships. Building on the primer, we are now putting together a toolkit to assist communities that want to increase the level of broadband infrastructure and adoption in their areas. This guide will provide solid and field-tested advice on how to establish effective partnerships, develop useful applications and build projects that will sustain themselves for years to come. We have made important strides in expanding broadband access and adoption but there is still work to be done. And NTIA will be leading the charge.