• February 18, 2009

Broadband access advocates cheered Tuesday's news that President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a stimulus package that allocates more than $7 billion to new broadband networks.

"The broadband stimulus package is a critical first step toward transforming our digital dirt roads into 21st-century superhighways," Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, said in a statement.

The bill provides for the Commerce Dept.'s National Telecommunications and Information Administration to dole out $4.35 billion. Another agency, the Agriculture Dept.'s Rural Utilities Service, will distribute $2.5 billion.

Companies receiving grants from the NTIA for broadband must complete the projects within two years and must also provide broadband service at the fastest possible speeds. In addition, they must follow the FCC's nondiscrimination principles, which ban companies from degrading traffic based on content or type of protocol.

Silver stated that Free Press still hopes to see new laws enshrining net neutrality principles that would apply to all broadband networks--not just those receiving stimulus money.

The government also has launched a Web site, Recovery.gov, where people can track the stimulus bill's progress.--Wendy Davis