Update: New Congressional Staff Report: Is the Broadband Stimulus Working?
On Wednesday, February 27, 2013, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing entitled “Is the Broadband Stimulus Working?”
The hearing notice includes a staff report on the broadband stimulus program and questions whether “taxpayers are getting their money’s worth four years after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) allocated $7 billion for broadband grants and loans.” The report states while there may be some good coming from these stimulus programs, “the question is whether they have failed to minimize costs, maximize benefits, and generate adequate return on investment, especially in the current fiscal climate.” Learn more here.
Investments by cable and other providers have made Texas one of the most wired in the country.
Cable companies are the largest provider of broadband services in the country — investing over $130 billion in private capital investment in the last decade to provide advanced services.