A coalition of major IT companies, online retailers and nonprofit organizations have launched a nationwide program to drive up broadband adoption in the U.S., and train residents in computer technology skills in an effort to cut unemployment and spur economic growth.

The new program will get support from Microsoft, Best Buy, Monster.com, Sesame Workshop, the Boys and Girls Club, Goodwill, 4-H, the National Urban League, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and several other organizations.

The initiatives by Federal Communications Commission (F.C.C.) called ‘Connect to Compete’ has brought together these companies under one umbrella that will provide free computer training and will guide the benefit of broadband to the millions of US residents who don’t subscribe to these services or who has little knowledge on computer operation.

Microsoft has come forward to offer training in basic computer literacy as well as job search training in 15 states schools and libraries. A major part of this program will focus on training people in computer skills and match them to jobs that require digital literacy.

“It’s one important stop of the train,” said Julius Genachowski, chairman of the F.C.C. “About 100 million U.S. residents, about a third of the country, don’t subscribe to broadband service at home. People who don’t have broadband don’t have access to many educational opportunities and health-care services, and are left out of many job-searching services.”

“More than 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies post job opportunities online only,” Genachowski said. “So if you’re not online or if you’re not digitally literate, the digital divide is now wider and deeper than ever before, hitting workers at all levels. Without home Internet, people are denied access to good jobs being created in America today.”

Some 18 million Americans do not have access to broadband. A previous study from F.C.C revealed that Americans were getting only half the peak download speeds they expected to get.  Various other studies have also shown that the cost of Internet services and computers, the importance of Internet and miniscule awareness on computer are some major reasons for people not to opt for broadband at home.

The proposed strategy for revamping Broadband penetration will help cut the number of Americans bypassed by broadband by up to one half over the following five years, and it will put US on the path to universal broadband by the end of the decade, according to the FCC study.