Rick Boucher
Bruce P. Mehlman
Jamal Simmons
Featured Members
Broadband Fact Book
Start-Up Savings
10 Benefits of Health IT
How Broadband Helps Rural Communities
10 Ways Being Online Saves You Money
Achieving Universal Broadband
The National Broadband Plan
The Digital Divide
Jobs and Investment
March Madness in Bytes
Sign the Petition
Internet Past & Future
Back to School Webinar
Telepsychiatry Webinar
IIA Broadband Symposium
IIA Internet Academy
Press Releases
Most Recent PostsInvestment is Good, Being Smart is Better
In an opinion piece for GigaOm, broadband industry analyst Craig Settles (who is also an IIA Broadband Ambassador) argues that in order for America to close the digital divide, smart investment in infrastructure will be key:
The broadband stimulus program committed nearly $500 million to narrow the digital divide through broadband adoption campaigns and building computing centers in low-income areas. After distributing much of this money in 2011, these investments should start bearing fruit. But will they?
Their success faces two challenges: a lack of sufficient broadband infrastructure in some low-income areas and broadband adoption efforts that miss the mark because policymakers don’t understand what leads to success. Fortunately, these issues can be addressed. Once we accept that success depends on how we spend that stimulus funding and what stakeholders expect (hope) to achieve.
Read the whole thing, as they say.
