First broadband stimulus comes big and fast

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The first chunk of U.S. government stimulus funds for broadband networks is bigger than expected, but companies have less time than they thought to apply for it.

Vendors have until August 14 to submit proposals for a total of about $4 billion in grants and loans described in a 121-page Notice of Funds Availability document posted late Thursday (July 2). "It was my weekend reading," said Paul Sinderbrand, an attorney tracking the process Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP (Washington D.C.), a telecom law firm...