With up to $350 million in federal stimulus funds allocated for broadband mapping, an organization called Connected Nation is racking up the frequent flying miles in an effort to capture the lion’s share of the money.
Connected Nation, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit organization that represents the interests of the telephone and cable industries in broadband mapping by obtaining contracts from states to do the work while also protecting the “confidentiality” of deployment information that may be deemed “proprietary” by the companies supplying the information In return, Connected Nation charges up to millions of dollars for mapping and, in some occasions, to organize local teams to assess demand.
From Austin to Boise, Honolulu, Oklahoma City and even up to Wasilla, Alaska, and many points in between, Connected Nation has pitched its services to state governments, with impressive results in either setting up t