Work Continues To Map Broadband Needs

Estimates vary on what it will cost to bring high speed Internet access to every home in rural America. Vickie Robinson with Microsoft Global Airband Initiative, recently told a House Ag Committee it could cost between $60-$80 billion to fill the many gaps that exist in broadband service.

"I submit, however, that it's hard to rely on such because we have it first on the hard but necessary work to accurately map where that gaps exist."

The Federal Communications Commission has been working on establishing such a coverage map. Earlier versions of it had been criticized by some as inaccurate, but Robinson contends:

"It's also important to leverage the power of technology to ensure that what we're seeing in these maps is actually accurate. And use the power of the power of the cloud, use machines to validate what's being seen."

Robinson said this needs to be done quickly and accurately in order to understand the scope of the problem and the costs to fix it.

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