MaSSSoftech

The Arizona Government Information Technology Agency will seek a $4.3 million grant to help map broadband Internet coverage in the state.

GITA submitted the grant to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Chad Kirkpatrick, the state chief information officer and director of GITA, said the project is designed to find unserved and underserved areas of broadband in order to tie in more rural communities to the state’s telecommunications infrastructure.

NTIA is issuing the grants in hopes of putting together a national map of areas where broadband penetration is weak. The state’s application includes $3.8 million for mapping and another $500,000 for planning, the maximum amounts allowed in each category.

NTIA is one of the agencies, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utiltiy Service, coordinating more than $7.2 billion to upgrade the nation’s broadband infrastructure.

The grants for the first part of the money were due last Friday, and the state should hear back from NTIA by Sept. 15.