Improving the state of broadband internet in the US has been a part of the President Obama's platform for some time, and now that the presidency is in its later years, the administration wants to take stock of the advancements it has made.

In an announcement today, the administration officially announced that over 98 percent of Americans now have access to LTE service. Verizon Wireless has advertised for over a year that it covers precisely that many Americans with LTE, but now the government officially approves of that figure, according to the latest data from the Commerce Department. Back in 2011, when President Obama first announced that milestone as one of the administration's goals, the nation's largest carrier provided LTE to just over half of the US population. 3G service, meanwhile, was available to only 95 percent of the population. The administration provided $7 billion in funding to help bring wireless networks up to speed across the nation, and it credits its high-profile spectrum auctions with helping make nationwide LTE a reality.

Broadband in the US still lags behind other nations

In addition, the administration points out that last month the FCC struck down laws restricting broadband growth in two the of 19 states that were called out as part of his broadband plan earlier this year. There's also a new policy being put in place today that will bring $35 million in loans to help promote broadband infrastructure in rural areas of Arkansas, New Mexico, and Iowa. Of course, despite these gains, the US broadband still ranks low among the most developed nations in the world — but there's no quick fix for that.