On Tuesday, the North Florida Broadband Authority announced to a board of county commissioners in Putnam County that construction of a regional broadband access system will begin in April. The $28 million project, funded by Federal economic stimulus dollars, will make high-speed Internet available to Putnam County as well as to 40 percent of the State of Florida.

Another southern state is also working on a broadband expansion project. Georgia has already started their $26 million project by Appalachian Valley Fiber Network to fill in broadband gaps across 14 counties in Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama. The project will provide broadband access to the region, as well as the opportunity to market North Georgia as a region outside the metro Atlanta area. The next step is to create a plan to leverage the new network in the region. The Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute proposed a pilot program that would teach local commercial users how to harness digital technology to enhance their competitiveness in the global marketplace.

A telecommunications company in Ohio is continuing work on their broadband development project that when complete will cover 34 counties in Ohio. "We want to bring more broadband access to areas where it is currently unavailable, increase the bandwidth availability for city and county services, and provide connectivity cost-effectively," commented a fiber sales manager involved with the broadband project.