News and Events

This post is part of our “Spotlight on NTIA” blog series, which is highlighting the work that NTIA employees are doing to advance NTIA’s mission of promoting broadband adoption, finding spectrum to meet the growing demand for wireless technologies, and ensuring the Internet remains an engine for innovation and economic growth.

WASHINGTON — Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling issued the following statement on the multistakeholder process to develop the first privacy code of conduct aimed at improving disclosures on mobile devices.

Washington — The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today announced it has awarded the first $13.1 million in grants under the State and Local Implementation Grant Program (SLIGP). The awards are going to Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, New York and Ohio, and will support state planning, consultation and outreach activities of these states as they prepare for the launch of the first nationwide public safety broadband network.

Late last month, I had the pleasure of joining representatives from the Keystone Initiative for Network Based Education and Research (KINBER) as they celebrated the completion of their statewide network linking many of the state’s colleges and universities. What had long been out of reach for Pennsylvania’s education community had finally become a reality with the help of NTIA’s broadband grant program. 

The White House recently set an ambitious goal to connect 99 percent of American students to ultra-fast broadband within five years. President Obama’s ConnectED initiative would bring Internet speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and high-speed wireless to K-12 schools across the nation.

Testimony of
Mr. Karl Nebbia
Associate Administrator, Office of Spectrum Management
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
U.S. Department of Commerce

Before the

Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
Committee on Energy and Commerce
United States House of Representatives

Hearing on
“Equipping Carriers and Agencies in the Wireless Era”
June 27, 2013

Washington, DC — The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) plans to issue multiple requests for information (RFIs) within the next few weeks. The RFIs will request detailed information regarding potential deployment options for two crucial portions of the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network: the radio access network (RAN) and core network. The RFIs will be posted on www.fedbizopps.gov.

Keynote Address by Lawrence E. Strickling
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information
Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI) at Columbia Business School

Conference on The Future of Internet Governance After Dubai

New York, New York
June 20, 2013

--As prepared for delivery--

This post is part of our “Spotlight on NTIA” blog series, which is highlighting the work that NTIA employees are doing to advance NTIA’s mission of promoting broadband adoption, finding spectrum to meet the growing demand for wireless technologies, and ensuring the Internet remains an engine for innovation and economic growth.

To illustrate the impact of the $4 billion Recovery Act investment in the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and State Broadband Initiative (SBI), NTIA has developed a user friendly online tool to visualize the high-speed broadband networks, public computer centers and Internet training programs funded across the country.

BOULDER, Colo. - The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today announced plans to establish a national Center for Advanced Communications in Boulder, Colo. The new center will implement a key provision of a memorandum President Obama issued earlier today on “Expanding America’s Leadership in Wireless Innovation.”

President Obama today issued a Presidential Memorandum that builds on the Administration’s commitment to make additional spectrum available for wireless broadband to drive innovation, expand consumer services, and increase job creation and economic growth.  The memorandum establishes a set of measures that Federal agencies, in collaboration with industry and

“The President’s action today confirms and strengthens the efforts of NTIA, working with other federal agencies, to allocate 500 megahertz of spectrum by 2020 for wireless broadband services while balancing the spectrum needs of federal agencies. Spectrum is an important driver of economic growth and innovation. The Presidential Memorandum will encourage greater collaboration between industry and the government necessary to facilitate greater sharing of spectrum and ensure that agencies will utilize spectrum as efficiently as possible.”

Remarks by Bill D’Agostino
First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) General Manager

at the

Public Safety Communications Research Program Conference
Westminster, Colorado
June 4, 2013

(Transcript with edits for clarity)

Keynote address of Sam Ginn
First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) Board Chairman

at the

Public Safety Communications Research Program Conference
Westminster, Colorado
June 4, 2013

(Transcript with edits for clarity)

In a new report released today, Exploring the Digital Nation: America’s Emerging Online Experience, NTIA examines how Americans connect to the Internet and what Americans do once they get online. The report, co-authored with the Economics and Statistics Administration, confirms the dramatic growth in the number of Americans who are going online to perform important tasks like applying for jobs, looking up health information, and learning about current events.

New data collected as part of a joint project of NTIA and the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) show the U.S. is making significant progress in the Obama administration’s efforts to get more Americans connected to the Internet. As of October 2012, 72.4 percent of American households (88 million households) have high-speed Internet at home – a 3.8 percentage point (5.5 percent) increase over the July 2011 figure.

“We look forward to working with the FCC, the Department of Education and all other stakeholders to achieve the president’s goal of ensuring that 99 percent of U.S. students have access to next-generation broadband within the next five years,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling.

Westminster, Colo. – The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) today approved resolutions proposed by its new General Manager, Bill D’Agostino, to give FirstNet the funding and organizational structure it needs to advance its mission to build a nationwide, public safety broadband network for first responders.

Sixteen projects funded through NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) will be honored tonight for being selected as 2013 Computerworld Honor Laureates. They’ll each receive medallions inscribed with the Computerworld Honors Program’s mission, “A Search for New Heroes,” at the Computerworld Honors Awards Gala in Washington, D.C.  

NTIA’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) in Boulder, CO, has been hard at work for years on research aimed at giving first responders next-generation technology that will help save lives.

While broadband availability has expanded for all parts of the United States, NTIA data has consistently shown that urban areas have greater access to broadband at faster speeds than rural areas. In a new report released today, NTIA and the Commerce Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) delve deeper into the differences between broadband availability in rural and urban areas.

This is the second post in our “Spotlight on NTIA” blog series, which is highlighting the work that NTIA employees are doing to advance NTIA’s mission of promoting broadband adoption, finding spectrum to meet the growing demand for wireless technologies, and ensuring the Internet remains an engine for innovation and economic growth.