The Epoch Times recently ran a nice overview on the impact of the BTOP (Broadband Technology Opportunities Program) – one of the agencies responsible for doling out the ARRA funding 3 years ago. NTIA’s BTOP primary support broadband adoption and computer center projects; as opposed to the RUS BIP awards, which primarily supported infrastructure.

They highlighted a project in Georgia…

The NGN [North Georgia Network ] —a coalition of county economic development authorities, a state university, and two electric co-operatives—was one of 230 projects selected through the BTOP awards scheme. The group received $33.5 million, and with that rolled out a 1,100-mile fiber-optic network across 12 counties, transforming a 50-year-old dial-up service into an internationally competitive telecommunications platform, which offers speeds of up to 1.2 gigabytes per second.

Over 300 businesses and hundreds of anchor institutions now receive high-speed Internet in north Georgia, including schools, college campuses, libraries, and hospitals, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which oversees the grants.

Larry Strickling NTIA administrator, talks about the challenge of getting people to adopt broadband…

“This has to be a troubling statistic in the 21st-century economy, when broadband access and digital literacy skills are needed to compete in the workforce,” said Strickling. “And it is even more troubling when we hear what Americans tell us about why they don’t adopt broadband. Nearly half of not-adopting households have cited a lack of interest or need as the primary reason.”

The NTIA is working on plans to share more lessons from BTOP projects…

There is much more work to do, according to Strickling, but the BTOP is a start. Additionally, the NTIA is in the process of collating lessons learned through the program, with an eye on developing an online toolkit to help other communities benefit from digital technology.