Durbin Bill to Encourage High-Speed Internet Access in Rural Areas Sent to the President

Press Release

Durbin Bill to Encourage High-Speed Internet Access in Rural Areas Sent to the President

The Senate unanimously approved the Broadband Data Improvement Act late yesterday, which included language introduced by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) to encourage the rapid deployment of high-quality, affordable broadband internet service, especially in rural areas. The bill included Durbin's Connect the Nation Act, which creates a matching grant program to assist states or regional public-private partnerships in mapping broadband availability and adoption, increasing access to high-speed broadband, and building demand.

"Broadband has become essential to rural areas which still lack adequate and affordable access to the internet," said Durbin. "This bill helps close the digital divide, ensuring that no Americans are left behind in the 21st Century's digital economy."

Last year, Durbin introduced the Connect the Nation Act, modeling it on successful public-private partnerships in Kentucky, North Carolina and other states. These partnerships bring together providers, advocates, and units of government to share information and develop detailed service maps - an important first step to building out broadband networks. In addition, the model creates a statewide or regional clearinghouse of technical assistance, grant writing, and demand-building expertise.

Durbin's bill creates a competitive, matching grant program (with a maximum of 80% of the funding from the federal government and the remaining 20% from grant recipients) for eligible statewide public-private partnerships to evaluate current broadband access and use, build detailed maps of service and create demand through grassroots teams. Grant applications would be reviewed through a peer review process and eligible entities would be limited to four years of participation. Collaboration is required between state agencies, service providers, and the relevant labor organizations and community organizations to be considered eligible.

Two reports -- one issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the other by the U.S. Department of Agriculture - found that rural and farm household access to broadband internet is approximately half that of all U.S. households nationwide. Another respected research organization, the Pew Internet and American Life Project, found similar results. In its 2006 report, Pew found that only 18% of rural adults reported a home broadband connection, compared to 31% of urban adults. All of these studies point to a consistent conclusion: Americans living in urban areas are almost twice as likely to have home broadband access as do their rural counterparts.

Durbin said broadband is critical to community and economic development, as it encourages investment, creates jobs, improves productivity, fosters innovation, and increases consumer benefits in every corner of our nation. A recent study found that adoption of current generation broadband would increase the gross domestic product by $179.7 billion, while adding approximately 61,000 jobs per year over the next two decades. The study also projected 1.2 million jobs could be created if next generation broadband technology were rapidly deployed.

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