Broadband Availability Improves in U.S.

I just read a blog post from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that summarizes their report on broadband availability between 2010 and 2012. The report determined that basic broadband service is almost universal in urban areas and that while rural areas still lag behind, 91 percent of rural residents have access to broadband service as of June 2012. NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), which funded Nebraska’s three-year grant to improve library broadband service, has played a big part in expanding the availability of high-speed internet access for all citizens. The libraries participating in Nebraska’s BTOP program that received broadband access saw their average speed increase from 4.6Mbps to 24.4Mbps as of May 2013 and all 147 libraries in the program now offer wireless access for their customers.