(Image source: commerce.gov )



BY EVAN THOMAS

ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

 

U.S. Internet is getting an upgrade — the White House and the National Science Foundation have plans for a series of wider, faster tubes.

 

Fast Company reports President Obama will sign an executive order Thursday that makes it cheaper and faster to install network infrastructure — like the fiber optics that make up the physical connections of the Internet — on federal property.

 

The order will mandate network installation during the construction phase — which could reduce initial costs by as much as 90 percent . The Hill reports.

 

“The order will also require the Transportation Department to adopt a 'dig once' policy, meaning that construction teams should include the pipes that house Internet cable when they build new roads.”

 

At the same time, the White House has announced US Ignite, a partnership between the Global Environment for Network Innovations and the National Science Foundation.

 

US Ignite will deploy gigabit networks to communities, schools and research institutions , where they will develop and test applications that use the superfast network to advance education, healthcare and the energy and manufacturing industries.

 

And Mozilla is running Mozilla Ignite , a challenge to developers to create the same sort of public-service uses for the network. This one comes with cash prizes for the best applications.

 

But GigaOM worries for all their good intentions, these contests and initiatives won’t give the new network the inertia it needs .

 

“If you look at all the press releases, you don’t see much in the way of specifics of what type of applications that the Ignite effort will help launch. …I feel that the mass use case for ultrafast broadband is going to come from folks like you and me.”

 

But that use case will only materialize if the connectivity is affordable. Talking Points Memo quotes a White House official .

 

“‘More than 90 percent of households currently have the ability to subscribe to broadband. But only 68 percent actually do, in part due to affordability issues.’”

 

President Obama said last year the plan was to get broadband access to 98 percent of Americans by 2016. Currently, only about 68 percent of the population enjoys such speeds.