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Making the announcement, Obama said: "Building a nationwide broadband network will strengthen our economy and put more Americans back to work. By connecting every corner of our country to the digital age, we can help our businesses become more competitive, our students become more informed and our citizens become more engaged."
The White House press release explains: "Currently, the procedures for approving broadband infrastructure projects on properties controlled or managed by the Federal Government - including large tracts of land, roadways, and more than 10,000 buildings across the nation - vary depending on which agency manages the property. The new executive order will ensure that agencies charged with managing federal properties and roads take specific steps to adopt a uniform approach for allowing broadband carriers to build networks on and through those assets and speed the delivery of connectivity to communities, businesses, and schools."
US initiative number two is 'US Ignite' a 100 member partnership of corporate and non-profit entities, more than 60 national research universities and more than 25 cities with the goal to: "create a new wave of services that take advantage of state-of-the-art, programmable broadband networks running up to 100 times faster than today's Internet."
By bringing software developers and engineers from government and industry together with representatives from communities, schools, hospitals, and other institutions that will benefit from faster and more agile broadband options, the partnership aims to speed up and increase the development of applications for advanced manufacturing, medical monitoring, emergency preparedness, and a host of other services.
US Ignite will "create a national network of communities and campuses with ultra-fast, programmable broadband services, operating at speeds of up to 1Gbps [that] will become a test-bed for designing and deploying next-generation applications to support national priorities areas such as education, healthcare, energy, and advanced manufacturing."
It will be an independent, non-profit organisation funded by its members and "will work collaboratively with its partners to implement a multi-pronged strategy."
The White House has issued a 14 page fact sheet detailing some of the initial projects initiated under US Ignite.
