Help is on the way

The Broadband Data Improvement Act (S. 1492) was marked up and reported out of committee today in the Senate. This is an encouraging development, as the legislation makes its way through the Senate toward a floor vote, which will give all of our U.S. senators the chance to show their support for universal high speed internet access.

The bill was introduced in May by Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI). It would go a long way toward improving the high speed internet deployment data collected by the FCC--a crucial first step in expanding high speed internet access to all Americans.

Key provisions in the bill include measuring high speed internet access more precisely and creating a federal grant program for state organizations working to overcome the digital divide.

As Mark Lloyd of the Center for American Progress noted, this bill is a key building block for America's internet future:

We want advanced telecommunications service that will allow real-time robust two-way communication of full-motion, high-definition video. We want real-time two-way interactive transmission capability because it will help visiting nurses in homes and emergency technicians in the field communicate effectively with doctors in big city hospitals hundreds of miles away. We want high speed two-way interactive transmission because communication in the digital age should be from each to all. If this standard is good enough for the French and the Scandinavians and the Japanese and the Canadians, why isn’t it good enough for us?

Broadband Data Improvement Act (S. 1492)

Senator Inouye Introduces Broadband Data Improvement Act (Speed Matters)

Raise the Bar on Broadband