More than 85 percent of the households covered by the three projects, using money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, have wired or fixed wireless broadband service available to them, not including 3G mobile broadband service, , released by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA).

Including 3G service, nearly 99 percent of the households covered by the three projects, in northeastern Minnesota, southwestern Montana and northwestern Kansas, have broadband service, the study said. The study counts 3G, with download speeds of 600 Kbps to 1.4 Mbps, and DSL (digital subscriber lines), with speeds up to 3 Mbps, as broadband, although providers covering parts of the areas deliver faster service.

The three RUS projects largely focus on providing fiber service to the home, with speeds in the tens of megabits per second.

"While it may be too early for a comprehensive assessment of the ARRA's broadband programs, it is not too early to conclude that, at least in some cases, millions of dollars in grants and loans have been made in areas where a significant majority of households already have broadband coverage," wrote study authors Jeffrey Eisenach and Kevin Caves of Navigant Economics, a Washington, D.C., analysis firm generally opposed to government programs and regulations. "In addition, the [RUS] program creates strong disincentives to private broadband investment in the long run, as potential future investors will discount expected returns for the possibility that the government may step in, ex post, to subsidize a competitor."

The study largely depends on broadband providers to report their coverage areas. Navigant employees did not go to the three states to check the reported coverage areas, an NCTA spokesman said.