Washington DC is using government stimulus funds to bridge the broadband gap by building a series of 200 100Gbps network links, the first of which went live today. One of the reasons it's difficult to bring broadband internet to homes is that telephone companies own the "middle mile" that connects the neighborhood networks to the internet backbone, and they charge a premium price to gain access to it. The DC Community Access Network (DC-CAN) will provide a low cost alternative connection for internet providers so they don't have to go through Verizon or AT&T — this will allow them to provide broadband internet to homes and businesses at a feasible price. This network won't be as fast as Google's project in Kansas, but it'll be cheap and improve poor broadband conditions in DC. The project is expected to be complete by 2013.