$7.2 billion in broadband stimulus funding pales beside what's needed

A task force of the Federal Communications Commission this week

reportedly said it’ll take as much as $350 billion in infrastructure upgrades to effectively expand broadband usage throughout the United States.

John Poirier of Reuters (News - Alert) is reporting that the panel – whose full report on the broadband stimulus plan is due in February – is calling for investments ranging up as high as $350 billion for landline and wireless infrastructure in order to deliver broadband Internet capabilities to rural and urban areas. The full report is expected to go to Congress in mid-February...

Cost of expanded broadband service could reach $350B - Nextgov

FCC officials finally have a cost estimate for accomplishing the goal of extending high-speed Internet technology to all Americans: $20 billion to $350 billion.

But with only a few months to go before the agency presents a sweeping national broadband plan to Congress, questions remain about how much money ultimately would be needed, whether government funding would be sought and if the private sector is willing to invest billions of dollars on a federal initiative...

Let the stimulus challenges begin!

If you thought there was a frenzy over federal broadband stimulus funding before, the next few weeks may prove even crazier.

As of Monday night, the industry is in the 30-day period in which incumbents can challenge applications for funding that involve census blocks within their footprint. Based on what some experts are saying here at the 2009 FTTH Council Conference and Expo in Houston, this challenge period could be very interesting...

Broadband portion of stimulus program will lead recovery | greatfallstribune.com | Great Falls Tribune

Our nation's broadband economic stimulus plan — part of the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act — is placing a bet our economy will improve with the expansion of high-speed Internet.

Of course, there are the jobs created just through basic construction, such as the building of broadband networks including fiber and towers. This is no different from jobs created through construction of a building. But if a region builds an office building with no use — with hardly any potential tenants — the economic impact will be short-lived and limited to the building project itself...

FCC broadband policy update raises funding questions | MSO Optics News | Lightwave Online

SEPTEMBER 30, 2009 By Stephen Hardy -- The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Broadband Task Force issued a status report on the FCC’s quest to deliver its National Broadband Plan to Congress by February 17, 2010. Among other points, the status report painted a picture of the current state of broadband deployment in the U.S. -- and raised questions about how much of a dent the current broadband stimulus effort would make in the country’s current deployment shortfall.

Using the 768-kbps downstream rate that defined basic broadband within the stimulus Notice of Funding Availability as a benchmark, the task force estimates that 3 to 6 million people qualify as unserved. The task force noted the cost to correct this shortfall would increase significantly if the data rate used to define broadband were to be raised...

Stimulus funds available for broadband access | access, stimulus, funds - News - Jacksonville Daily News

Stimulus funds intended for providing broadband access to parts of coastal Carolina could be applied to Onslow and Carteret counties — but the counties may not need it.

Federal stimulus money in the amount of $7.9 billion has been designated to assist communication companies in bringing broadband access to rural areas nationwide. More than 40 companies have applied to serve North Carolina alone, with stimulus money scheduled to be allocated in October...

Where America stands in broadband, according to the FCC | Computer | TechBlogPlus

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the "broadband stimulus plan," included the proviso that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) submit a National Broadband Plan to Congress by February 2010.

With just under five months left before the plan is due before Congress, the FCC today used the results of its 26 broadband-related workshops and hearings and nearly 41,000 pages of comments to describe the current state of broadband and enable Commissioner/public feedback for review...

Recovery.gov relaunch puts stimulus spending on the map - Computerworld Blogs

Want to know where federal stimulus dollars are being spent in your state, your county, your town or on your street?

Recovery.gov, the government's official Web site for tracking federal stimulus spending, relaunched today with a trove of new data that lets visitors see -- literally -- where the money is going by navigating through a series of maps. The site is managed by The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (RATB), which was created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to provide transparency in reporting how stimulus funds are used...

Cable Digital News - Broadband - 100-Meg price tag: $350B - Telecom News Analysis

Want to provide 100-Mbit/s broadband service to every U.S. household? No problem: Just be ready to write a $350 billion check.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officials shared that jaw-dropping figure today during an update on their National Broadband Plan for bringing affordable, high-speed Internet access to all Americans. The Commission is schedule to present the plan to Congress in 141 days, on Feb. 17. (See FCC Boots Up National Broadband Plan ...)

FCC: Three to six million unserved by broadband - 2009-09-29 13:00:00 EDT | Broadcasting & Cable

The FCC says 3 million to 6 million people are "unserved" by basic broadand service, and that current government funding won't be enough to get broadband to all of them.

"[C]urrent mechanisms, such as Universal Service and stimulus grants, are insufficient to achieve national purposes," according to a status report Tuesday from members of the FCC's broadband task force...

Rural Broadband: High speed Internet for people living in the sticks « StraightUpSearch

My folks live in the very house that I grew up in, and cable television still isn’t available in their area – also eliminating the option for cable broadband internet.

Their local AT&T telephone service said the current telephone wires and connection boxes in place are too old to support DSL broadband, and that is also the reason why their current dial up internet access is about half as slow as it should be (resulting in some truly sluggish speeds)...

FCC: Up to 6 million 'unserved' by basic broadband

A so-called “preliminary analysis” by the Federal Communications Commission indicated that approximately three to six million people are “unserved” by basic broadband. With 141 days remaining before the FCC (News - Alert) must deliver a National Broadband Plan to Congress, the task force developing the plan issued a status report to the commission during its monthly meeting Tuesday.

The number of “unserved” increases as the definition of minimum broadband speed increases, according to FCC officials. Tuesday’s presentation included an initial report on the current state of broadband in the U.S., and described the framework the team will use to both analyze gaps in broadband’s reach and find solutions to close those gaps...

Regina Hopper's Blog » FCC’s National Broadband Plan

I hope you will take a few moments to take a look at my new Broadband Now video – this one on the FCC’s National Broadband Plan. You can access here. Or, if you are a reader, here is the text!

From the halls of Congress…to the White House…to the corridors of the FCC…our nation is looking to the future—and broadband’s central role in it. The clock is ticking on Congress’ mandate to the Federal Communications Commission to develop a national broadband strategy. How are those efforts going? What conversations are underway? And, how can you participate..?

Broadband stimulus fund administrators to keynote national broadband strategy conference

SUPERCOMM®, the telecommunications industry's premier trade show hosted by TIA and US Telecom,
today announced that administrators from The Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service
(RUS) and The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications Information Administration
(NTIA) will deliver the keynote address at the National Broadband Strategy Conference taking
place at SUPERCOMM on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. CST.

RUS and NTIA are the organizations appointed by the Obama Administration for improving broadband
access to remote and rural communities across the U.S. as directed by The American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009...

Aurora gets approval for broadband stimulus program - 2009-09-29 07:10:26 EDT | Multichannel News

Aurora Networks' optical-transport solutions have won product acceptance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and its Rural Development Telecommunications Program for use by cable operators that receive grants and loans under the RUS's broadband stimulus program.

The Aurora offerings that are now part of the agency's "List of Acceptable Materials" for use under the RUS program are the vendor's traditional HFC solution, "green" fiber-deep solution and RF over glass (RFoG) solution.

Senator Dale Schultz releases broadband update | PdCToday.com - Prairie du Chien, WI

People ask Senator Dale Schultz the same question everywhere he goes these days, “When will I have broadband where I live?”

Schultz is hearing the question from people ’stuck with dial-up’ internet service or with parents or friends living in a rural area where reliable broadband service is not available or not affordable...

Charleston Daily Mail - West Virginia News and Sports - Business - Rockefeller says U.S. on road to faster Internet

With $7.2 billion in federal stimulus money he helped secure being deployed for broadband infrastructure, Sen. Jay Rockefeller proclaimed, "We have finally set out on the right road."

"But make no mistake: We are behind," Rockefeller said at a broadband conference on Monday at the Charleston Marriott. "Too many of our international counterparts have surged far ahead of us when it comes to broadband speed...

Feds refresh stimulus tracking site -- Government Spending -- InformationWeek

The federal government Monday launched a redesigned Recovery.gov, the Web site tracking spending of this year's $787 billion economic stimulus package.

The new site includes an overhauled user interface with better navigation, improved mapping of stimulus spending, access to more data, new graphs and charts, and resources like a glossary and tutorials...

FCC seeks comment on spectrum needs -- Federal Communications Commission -- InformationWeek

The Federal Communications Commission continues its push to play a stronger role in the mobile industry, and it is launching a review on whether current spectrum allocation is enough to handle future mobile data needs.

The bandwidth over the air is not as abundant as wired connections, and wireless industry executives have long complained that the FCC needs to make more licensed spectrum available, particularly as more customers use data-hungry devices like the iPhone and T-Mobile G1. This trend is expected to continue, asMotorola (NYSE: MOT) said nearly 40 million American consumers actively use mobile Internet service, a 75% increase from just two years ago...

Towerstream Blog » Blog Archive » Please pass the spectrum

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the FCC and its chairman, Julius Genachowski. I think the issues they are examining and decisions they are making are very important to the communications industry – especially for wireless – so I wanted to take a few minutes to review and discuss the latest.

Last week, the FCC opened a “request for comments” on broadband spectrum that will be used for the broadband stimulus. The FCC is looking to examine “the sufficiency of current spectrum allocations in spectrum bands, including but not limited to the prime spectrum bands below 3.7 GHz.” Basically, they want to know if there is enough spectrum available to support the broadband stimulus programs...

Stimulus funds could spur local broadband access | access, pamlico, craven - Local - ENCToday

The availability of wireless Internet access for remote areas of Craven, Pamlico and Jones counties — as well as much of coastal North Carolina — could become a benefit of federal stimulus money.

At least 41 private companies have filed applications to serve North Carolina with federal stimulus money designated to expand broadband or wireless Internet or phone service access and some of them would serve Craven, Pamlico and Jones counties...

Colorado Independent » Colorado schools look to stimulus funding for broadband boost

Many Colorado schools operate without adequate access to an increasingly critical utility: broadband service. It’s a problem that plagues many rural and some urban districts in the state. Many are hoping federal stimulus money can change the situation.

Unlike school districts in states such as Nebraska and Utah, Colorado schools haven’t worked together as well to buy bandwidth in bulk, reports the Denver Post...

And the largest broadband stimulus application goes to . . . EchoStar?

Just a few months after on its major divisions forged a deal to deliver its flagship video transport service to a communications provider in Georgia, an Englewood, Colo.-based company that specializes in digital TV entertainment, set-top boxes, and end-to-end video delivery systems reportedly has emerged in an ambitious broadband stimulus package that seeks $483 million funds.

According to the Denver Business Journal, EchoStar Corp. is joining Carlsbad, Calif.-based ViaSat (News - Alert) Inc. According to Greg Avery, it’s one of at least three projects in which EchoStar is involved, seeking a total $1.1 billion-plus in stimulus money. That would make make EchoStar the largest single applicant for the broadband stimulus funds. as the two seek money for a new satellite...

U.S. Cellular seeks to expand mobile broadband in California

CHICAGO, – U.S. Cellular Corporation has applied for federal stimulus funding to help create jobs, enhance public safety and close the rural-urban digital divide in parts of northern California by providing 3G mobile broadband – largely over its existing wireless network – to rural and underserved communities.

For California, the company has requested $2.95 million in grant support from the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP), which was established in response to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)...

Congress, FCC listening to libraries on broadband

As the ALA Washington Office continues our ongoing strategy to inform Congress and the NTIA of the benefits of investing in broadband stimulus funding for libraries, we’re seeing very public evidence that our message is resonating. On September 17, the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held a hearing titled, “Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission.”

The hearing – the first since Julius Genachowski was named Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – examined the views of the FCC Commissioners on a wide array of issues, including the progress of the national broadband plan, challenges in creating a national public safety broadband network and wireless competition...

Arcadian’s Smart Grid: Licensed spectrum network to own or rent

Arcadian Networks has built a 56,000-square-mile wireless smart grid network for Minnesota utilities using licensed spectrum. It’s looking to do the same for SDG&E and others.

Arcadian Networks has licensed 700-megahertz broadband spectrum across a 30-state stretch of the American heartland, and it wants utilities to know it's available for their use...

With broadband stimulus underway, wireless carriers pick up the slack with spending

Although full economic recovery is still a ways offs, telecommunications operators seem to be in more of a spending mood this quarter, now that the first of the $4 billion in broadband stimulus funds is about to be handed out.

This week, the deputy administrator and deputy assistant secretary for communications and information at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration – the U.S. Department of Commerce agency that advises the president on telecom policy – reportedly said the NTIA hopes to start awarding grants early in November...

Some broadband projects self-fund without stimulus | Unfiltered

As broadband stimulus applicants vie for federal funding, plenty of government entities across the country are moving ahead with public/private partnerships that extend broadband without the need for grant money from Uncle Sam.

In New York State, where 140 broadband stimulus projects were proposed seeking more than $1 billion (only California asked for more), one county expects to finish building a five-city fiber network around the time that stimulus recipients are getting their projects underway...

WiMax hunts for broadband bucks - Telecom News Analysis

Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR) wants nearly $40 million in its "modest" bid for broadband-related Recovery Act money, while many other WiMax providers are asking for a mix of big and small grants and loans.

The Kirkland, Wash.-based operator's subsidiary, Clear Partner Holdings LLC, has applied for two grants under the Last Mile portion of the Broadband Technologies Initiative Program (BTOP). The operator wants $19.4 million to bring broadband to "underserved communities" within 112 square miles of Detroit, Mich. It has also asked for a $20.3 million grant to "help to remedy the problem of limited broadband adoption, availability and affordability by underserved consumers, public safety agencies and educational institutions" in the San Juan-Caguas area of Puerto Rico. (See Recovery Act: Clearwire Reveals Plans...)

EchoStar makes bid for more stimulus money - Denver Business Journal:

EchoStar Corp. is a partner in another ambitious satellite broadband project that seeks $483 million in federal stimulus money.

Englewood-based EchoStar (NASDAQ: SATS) and Carlsbad, Calif.-based ViaSat Inc. teamed up to apply for government loans and grants they'd use to build and launch a new satellite. It’s one of at least three projects in which EchoStar is involved, seeking a combined $1.1 billion-plus in stimulus money. That may make EchoStar the largest single applicant for broadband stimulus money...

Firm seeking $24M to spread broadband - News | DailyAdvance.com

A California company is seeking $24 million in federal stimulus money to spread the use of wireless Internet service across eastern North Carolina.

Cleartalk, based in Hermosa Beach, Calif., is applying for funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to create a wireless 3G network that would serve an area of more than 2 million residents, a company release states...

Local governments hope to secure stimulus grants, instead find obstacles | Government Tech | ITBusinessEdge.com

Many local governments have hoped to receive some portion of the stimulus funds to build out broadband networks, only to find that their own layoffs have created piles of extra work and no time to research and apply for such grants, says TMCnet.

Still other local governments have discovered that even if you manage to successfully maneuver the application process, most grants have stipulations on how the money can be used, so many smaller broadband projects cannot be integrated under the same funding. This discourages some local governments from attempting broadband initiatives, which leaves a large percentage of applications for these stimulus grants to go to vendors and telecom carriers who are attempting to expand their own networks...

FCC's Levin wants more feedback for proposed broadband plan - FierceTelecom

Echoing comments he made in July about not being impressed with the initial feedback he got from the industry around the proposed broadband it has to submit to Congress in February, Blair Levin, the executive director of the FCC's omnibus broadband initiative, is once again asking for more ideas from the industry.

Levin thinks that the main goal of this broadband plan should focus on getting more broadband to ‘unserved' areas, adding that such capabilities will assist job applicants and students conducting research and doing their homework, among other things...

Are there any losers in broadband stimulus?

Next week, the feds will announce the first round of broadband stimulus grant winners. So far companies including U.S. Cellular, Zayo Bandwidth, ERF Wireless and Leap Wireless are in the running. But don’t forget – the stimulus initiative isn’t just about building the networks to bring broadband to unserved and underserved areas.

Rather, the stimulus is about bringing together an entire industry; and while many companies are working more in the background than on the front lines, it’s all contributing to the No. 1 aim of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act: sparking job growth...

Analyst: Top broadband stimulus applications have pork barrel project feel - FierceBroadbandWireless

Consulting firm Endeavor Technologies has done some analysis on the top 10 applicants vying for broadband stimulus money. Some of their business plans look quite dubious.

Among the top 10 applicants, five are satellite, three are unlikely to qualify and the remaining two have a "bridge to nowhere feel," said the firm. "These are all very large projects and not one is likely to fit the model the architects of the broadband stimulus program had in mind..."

Firm to acquire SkyTerra, take It private - washingtonpost.com

Reston-based satellite firm SkyTerra said Wednesday that it has agreed to be acquired by its biggest shareholder in a roughly $280 million transaction that will return the company to private ownership.

Under the deal, New York-based investment firm Harbinger Capital Partners will pay $5 per common share of SkyTerra -- a 56 percent premium over the stock's average price in the month before the announcement. SkyTerra shares gained more than 38 percent on Wednesday, closing at $4.71...

Broadband means economic growth | The Herald - Rock Hill, SC

Our nation's broadband economic stimulus plan — part of the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act — is placing a bet that our economy will improve with the expansion of high-speed Internet.

Of course, there are the jobs created just through basic construction, such as the building of broadband networks including fiber and towers. This is no different from jobs created through construction of a building. But if a region builds an office building with no use — with hardly any potential tenants — the economic impact will be short-lived and limited to the building project itself...

Broadband stimulus feature: 'Incumbents do not have a veto' and other words of hope

Those who’ve been following this column know that one of my pet rants has been against the backdoor incumbent challenge clause in the NOFA rules, the one that allows incumbents in an area to challenge an app claiming they already service the proposed coverage area. It looks like the tide has turned in favor of applicants in this area.

Asst. Sec Lawrence Strickling, head of NTIA, stated unequivocally in a recent Congressional hearing that “incumbents do not have a veto” over NOFA applications...

Job growth, not bandwidth, is key to winning broadband stimulus funds

There is a lot of money to be distributed in the coming months as governments around the world begin implementing their various economic stimulus packages.

There’s $30 billion in Australia, $7.2 billion in the United States, $2.2 billion in Malaysia and $1 billion in Portugal – just to name a few. That’s money to be made available through a host of programs intended to kick start the world economy. In many cases, telecommunications infrastructure is getting top billing as a potential driver for future economic prosperity. For those of us in the business, that means there’s a chance that a lot of those stray dollars could be heading to finance our visions and investments around building employment within our industry. That is, if we’re smart in the way we position ourselves as would-be contributors to the economic recovery effort...

Broadband project to add 500 jobs

Honolulu - Sandwich Isle Communications Inc. says it will create 500 new local jobs if it receives federal broadband stimulus money to complete its network. But those jobs will come at a steep price.

The company recently applied for more than $131 million in funding to complete the build out of its fibre optic cable network. On a per job basis, each of those 500 new posts will cost $263,000...

Why should the US stimulus rules change for the big carriers? : -4G Trends-

Now that the US broadband stimulus funding applications are in, there is rising debate over whether the rules should be changed for subsequent rounds of financing. Many of the applicants are putting forward highly innovative plans that go far beyond simple best effort access to underserved communities and look forward to a wide range of new services and business models. Many of these were prominently on show at last week’s 4G World in Chicago, with WiMAX-based operators like DigitalBridge to the fore.

This is leading powerful lobbyists to argue that, while the large operators want less stringent net neutrality conditions for future awards, the government has no need to compromise, since there are plenty of contenders capable of diversifying the US market without the large carriers getting involved. And the recent statements by new FCC chairman Julius Genachowski indicate he is in mood for further compromises on net neutrality, which he aims to extend to the wireless world...

City of Philadelphia requests $35 million in federal broadband stimulus application | Covering the Community of People Who Use Technology in Philadelphia.

The City of Philadelphia hopes that federal agencies awarding federal broadband stimulus grants will fund $35 million to its Digital Philadelphia Broadband Initiative, according to documents published by the National Telecommunications Information Administration.

Executive summaries detailing combined applications between the Division of Technology and the Free Library of Philadelphia call for $21 million for middle mile infrastructure and $14 million for adoption programs...

NTIA to begin awarding broadband stimulus grants in November

NASHVILLE--The National National Telecommunications and Information Administration, along with the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service, is still sorting through nearly $28 billion worth of applications for broadband stimulus grants--nearly seven times the $4 billion available for the program in this first round. However, the NTIA hopes to begin awarding the first round of its grants in early November, according to an NTIA official.

Anna Gomez, NTIA's deputy administrator and deputy assistant secretary for communications and information, said in a keynote address at the PCIA Wireless Infrastructure show here that the agency hopes to have all of the grants announced by the end of the year. Later this fall, the agency will solicit comments on the first round of grants and gather best practices. Then, by late winter, the NTIA is to receive the second round of applications. Currently, the NTIA is deciding whether to combine the second round of applications with a third round, though Gomez emphasized that a decision had not been made either way...

Broadband could come to rural Tennessee

State officials and private organizations in Tennessee are banking on securing federal stimulus money to bring affordable, high-speed Internet connections to rural parts of the state,

Both public and private agencies are trying to tap into the more than $7.2 billion that the Obama administration is allocating as part of the Recovery Act passed earlier this year to improve broadband networks in rural and underserved areas...

Wireless tower developer partners with equity investor; expects revenue to increase fivefold - The Business Review (Albany):

It took John Stevens seven years to develop 18 cell towers throughout the Northeast by financing the construction out of his own pocket.

Now, the president of Independent Towers LLC of Latham has a plan to more than double his company’s portfolio in two years...

Stimulus grant workshop in Columbus, OH: November 9-13, 2009

The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) means billions of dollars in new grant opportunities for nonprofit organizations, counties, and municipalities. That short-term stimulus package, however, is only a part of the overall federal grantmaking effort. More than $300 billion in federal grants are awarded each year.

Competing for Federal Grants will equip you with the skills you need to develop proposals that will be competitive at the national level...

House of Reps: We want broadband-enabled schools, hospitals - FierceTelecom

Legislators have posed a mission to the FCC and the National Telecommunications & Information Association: Bring more broadband to hospitals, libraries and schools. This call for broadband service for anchor institutions came last week when House Communications Subcommittee chairman Rick Boucher (D-Va.) told newly appointed chairman Julius Genachowski that any broadband plan needs to get "extraordinarily high bandwidth" to libraries that can serve as local free Internet hubs.

This sentiment was shared by fellow Democratic subcommittee members, Reps. Doris Matsui and Ann Eshoo, both of California, and former subcommittee chairman Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). This group of legislators made their feeling collectively heard in a letter sent to the NTIA, which will be doling out part of the first portion of the broadband stimulus funding this fall, to make sure "anchor institutions, including libraries and health facilities" get extra attention...

It's official: NTIA throwing states under the BTOP bus

Last Monday I wrote about how I'd heard that NTIA had dumped all the unreviewed BTOP applications on the states.

I backed off from those comments somewhat in my post last Tuesday as I'd tried getting this bit of news confirmed and was having some trouble doing so, plus I got some other intel suggesting that progress was being made. But today I got that confirmation from this San Francisco Business Times article...

Broadband stimulus: Wireless makes sense, but check the ROI | Telecom Asia

Improving essential US infrastructure was one of the many objectives of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. While this was primarily aimed at correcting the long-term neglect of America's highways and bridges, it also included funding to increase the amount and quality of broadband access, known generally as the broadband stimulus.

In terms of the broadband stimulus funds, the rules for evaluating broadband proposals were somewhat byzantine, consuming 120 pages of tightly-written prose. But they made one thing clear: Wireless broadband solutions would be an acceptable response and would be encouraged, in fact...

Local governments feeling the strain as stimulus grants loom

The federal government set out to do something about the disparity in communications offerings throughout the country. In an attempt to equalize the broadband offerings throughout all communities, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was created.

While the ARRA has billions of stimulus dollars at its disposal to offer, local governments are finding themselves short-handed when it comes to actually claiming some of that money. Andy Opsahl recently examined this problem in a Government Technology article...

'Down Under' Is upside down on broadband

It’s not actually true that people Down Under are upside down, but there’s surely a possibility that their regulatory approach to broadband is both upside down and backwards.

In fact, Australia could be the place that proves that too much competition is a lot worse than too little -- something we need to be thinking about here in the U.S...

Broadband stimulus: $28 billion dollars in applications chasing $7.2 billion dollars in funding – including Alaska’s new and improved, underwater bridge to nowhere! « Endeavour

$28 billion in applications were received in the first round of an ostensibly three round process to award $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus allocated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Recently, the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service (RUS) have released summary data on each of these applications at their Broadband USA site...

Siskiyou County announces $23 million Federal ARRA rural broadband stimulus bid | SYS-CON MEDIA

SACRAMENTO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/21/09 -- Western Blue, Northern and Central California's experienced IT solution integrator, in a consortium with Siskiyou County, local firms, the Karuk Tribe, the College of the Siskiyou, national technology experts and the State of California announced a $23 million federal ARRA rural broadband stimulus bid.

In a public-private partnership, the Siskiyou County Broadband Consortium led by the Siskiyou County Economic Development Council submitted an application which includes requests for $12 million in "middle mile" funding, plus $10 million and $1 million for "last mile" and "a public computer center" respectively under the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP)...

Windstream fights to change broadband stimulus rules

“I was so damn disappointed with it,” Jeff Gardner, Windstream’s chief executive officer, said of the rules governing the federal broadband stimulus program. “We spent months working on this. We spent millions of dollars getting ready.

We knew in every county, every exchange, how much additional money we’d need to invest to make the economics work for us. For $15 million, we could have increased [broadband] addressability in Arkansas by like 10%...”

Internet 'net neutrality' is endorsed by FCC chief -- latimes.com

New rules proposed by the nation's chief communications regulator to ensure unfettered access to the Internet would level the online playing field as more people surf the Web on mobile devices, but the plan has wireless carriers in an uproar.

Monday's proposal by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski would ensure that consumers would be able to get whatever content they want on the Internet and to use any service they want...

State of Missouri gave no-bid contract for stimulus consultant - Kansas City Star

JEFFERSON CITY | Gov. Jay Nixon is tapping experts in Washington to try to grab a higher percentage of federal stimulus dollars for expanded Internet access in Missouri.

But his method of doing so -- hiring a $495-an-hour law firm on a no-bid contract -- has caught the attention of a couple of Missouri senators who are already concerned about how the state plans to use federal money to expand broadband access...

Stimulus funding for broadband questioned | News-Leader.com | Springfield News-Leader

Missouri's telecommunications industry and some Republican state senators are raising questions about Gov. Jay Nixon's plans to expand broadband Internet access to rural parts of the state.

In mid-August, Nixon endorsed a proposal by Marshfield-based Sho-Me Power to apply for $142.3 million in federal stimulus money to lay 2,500 miles of new fiber-optic cable and build 200 new wireless towers to improve access. But the plan aims to address what's known as the "middle mile" in broadband networks...

State ranks broadband stimulus bids « Science & Technology News

California technology officials are scrambling to rank 178 applications for broadband stimulus money that have been submitted to the federal government by businesses, nonprofits and government agencies statewide.

Originally, the federal departments of agriculture and commerce were going to determine which applications were viable and then forward them to the state for ranking, but last week federal officials said the state would have to do an initial review on its own, said Joe Camicia, chief of staff in the Office of the State Chief Information Officer. “We’re scrambling,” Camicia said...

How the FCC can lead us to a smart intergrid

After health care reform, the next big fight in Washington will be about energy. Spending on health care is now about 18 percent of gross domestic product, while energy spending is about 10 percent — both in the trillions of dollars, which used to be a lot of money.

There are several driving factors contributing to this urgency for energy reform. Speedy spending on shovel-ready energy infrastructure can help jump-start our declining economy — $43 billion of stimulus spending has been earmarked for energy. Current world energy resources, especially oil, are getting expensive, running out, and in the hands of people who want to kill us. Catastrophic global warming is accelerating because of carbon dioxide released into Earth’s atmosphere by the burning of coal and oil, and it’s probably already too late to save life, as we know it. President Obama’s political honeymoon will soon be over, so it’s now or never...

Stimulus package set aside $350 million for national broadband map | Business | Star-Telegram

WASHINGTON — The stimulus package may have been too enthusiastic about spending money on one particular project: figuring out where broadband Internet access is available and how fast it is.

The $787 billion stimulus championed by the Obama administration set aside up to $350 million to create a national broadband map that could guide policies aimed at expanding high-speed Internet access. That $350 million tag struck some people in the telecommunications industry as excessive, compared with smaller, existing efforts. The map won’t even be done in time to help decide where to spend much of the $7.2 billion in stimulus money earmarked for broadband programs. Now it appears that the final cost won’t be as high as $350 million — though just how much it will be is unclear...

El Dorado promise leader pleased with early results | Arkansas News

Claiborne Deming, former Murphy Oil CEO and the chief architect of the El Dorado Promise, said early results show that the $50 million scholarship program is a “stunning success.”

Deming noted more than 300 new students have enrolled in the El Dorado public schools since the program was announced in January 2007. Nearly 95 percent of last year’s high school graduates have committed to go to college...

Recovery Act could bring broadband to rural Tenn. | Washington Examiner

NASHVILLE, TENN. — State officials and some private organizations are hoping to use federal stimulus money to bring affordable high-speed Internet connections to rural areas of Tennessee.

The Recovery Act passed earlier this year to boost the economy set aside roughly $7.2 billion in federal grants and loans to expand Internet availability to poorly served parts of the nation. Public and private agencies are trying to get some of the money...

FCC taps Austin for initial hearing on broadband expansion

The Federal Communications Commission will hold a public hearing in Austin on Monday to get input on the government's plan to use stimulus bucks to expand high-speed Internet access in rural parts of the country.

Monday's event is the first of three initial "field hearings" the FCC has announced to solicit opinions from the public about the $7.2 billion the government is planning to allocate as part of its national broadband expansion plan. Two panels will "explore the challenges of broadband deployment in Texas, including spectrum access, infrastructure, and rural issues," at Monday's hearing, the FCC said in a statement...

Perusing BTOP apps: The good, The bad, and the ugly

So over the last couple of days curiosity has gotten the better of me and I've started perusing the BTOP application database available here.

In it I've found a whole range of projects, from those requesting tens of thousands or even less to tens of millions and even more, from those that look just right to those that look all wrong, from those that seem to have the public interest foremost in mind to those that stink of profiteering...

Update on NTIA/RUA grant reviews « Blandin on Broadband

Online and off I’ve heard a lot of grumblings about the NTIA/RUS review process. I think that they were supposed to announce the first round cuts from the first round of grants this week. It didn’t happen. Then I heard from Geoff Daily’s blog that the grants were going straight to the states for their input.

Today I heard from Diane Wells (Dept of Commerce) that the State had indeed heard from the NTIA and they are getting the applications for early inspection. The State is supposed to make their comments by October 14...

F.C.C. Chairman seeks to protect free flow of Internet data - NYTimes.com

In a move to make good on one of President Obama’s campaign promises, Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, will propose Monday that the agency expand and formalize rules meant to keep Internet providers from discriminating against certain content flowing over their networks, according to several officials briefed on his plans.

In 2005, the commission adopted four broad principles relating to the idea of network neutrality as part of a move to deregulate the Internet services provided by telephone companies. Those principles declared that consumers had the right to use the content, applications, services and devices of their choice using the Internet. They also promoted competition between Internet providers...

Broadband silo busters: Southern Ohio Health Care Network

Business Wire via StimulatingBroadband.com 09/18/09 HICKORY, N.C.-- Corning Cable Systems LLC, part of Corning Incorporated’s (NYSE: GLW) Telecommunications segment, and Horizon Telcom announced the selection of Corning Cable Systems as the supplier of optical fiber cable for the Southern Ohio Health Care Network (SOHCN). The SOHCN project will connect 120+ health care facilities to a robust fiber optic network.

The connectivity will allow area providers to participate in telemedicine initiatives, progressive community health record projects, and the regional health information organization. Likewise, use of the network will enhance sustainability of rural medical practices, develop deeper collaboration among health care providers, and enhance emergency communications...

FCC expected to announce new net neutrality rules on Monday — RoughlyDrafted Magazine

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski will deliver a speech on Monday that sources say will outline a plan to adopt new net neutrality rules.

According to a report published by Reuters, the FCC chairman’s plan will seek the adoption of new rules intended to ensure that ISPs can’t arbitrarily block or slow down their customers’ access based on content...

Making broadband access available and affordable for all in the U.S. | The Viodi View

Professor Allen Hammond, Director of the Broadband Institute of California, offers a perspective on the importance of broadband access and a prescription for making it available and affordable for all U.S. residents.

Recommendations for Digital Inclusion, U.S. Broadband Policy, a national wireless network, funding and measurement tools are also included in this interview...

NYS Council for Universal Broadband conducts final quarterly meeting

ALBANY, NY (09/18/2009)(readMedia)-- The New York State Council for Universal Broadband held its final quarterly meeting on September 15, 2009. Council members focused on extending high speed Internet access to the unserved and underserved, urban and rural communities and the positive impact broadband access will have on the economy, education and families.

The Council will be replaced with the Broadband Development and Deployment Council announced by Governor David A. Paterson in Executive Order 22...

Broadband growth = Local search growth - Search Engine Watch (SEW)

The U.S. government is pushing to build out the nation's broadband infrastructure to rural and other hard-to-reach areas. Of the federal stimulus money approved, more than $6 billion is going toward broadband improvements. This will transform the online user experience. Some will be obvious -- faster download times and less waiting for consumers, the perfect formula for increased local search usage.

According to eMarketer, because of the $6 billion allocated to broadband this year (which is only used in 69.5 percent of households), penetration of broadband may grow faster than expected. In U.S. households, broadband usage is projected to rise 26 percent from 2008 to 2013...

The Digital Divide, Part II | Blogs | ITBusinessEdge.com

The original definition of the digital divide, which was heard a decade or so ago, was the gulf between people who had online access and those who didn’t.

The definition has gradually changed. The new digital divide is a bit more subtle -- but just as troublesome. Indeed, the reality is that if regulators don’t play their cards right, the impact could be worse than the digital divide as it originally was defined...

Federal broadband stimulus funds utterly unable to meet demand | The IT Chronicle

A few weeks ago, in early August, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski declared that the FCC viewed the creation of a national broadband policy as integral to the future of of the nation. Broadband, according to Genachowski, is “our generation’s infrastructure challenge…It is as important as electricity and highways were for past generations.”

Now that the first round of requests for broadband stimulus funding have been tallied, Genachowski will have to prove if he actually meant what he said. According to a recent announcement posted at Recovery.gov, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS, not to be confused with R.O.U.S.) have received nearly 2,200 requests totaling some $28 billion dollars for the meager $4.7 billion the NTIA actually has to allocate...

Hawaiian companies seek $350 million in broadband stimulus to boost online access

Hoping to tap into the pot of federal stimulus money to boost broadband access in underserved areas, a group of companies and agencies in Hawaii have applied for more than $350 million in federal grant and loan funding.

For example, Hawaiian Telcom Inc., Sandwich Isles Communications Inc. and the University of Hawaii are among the local bidders that are seeking than $7.2 billion that the Obama administration is allocating to improve broadband networks in rural and underserved areas...

Small ops apply for $1.3B of broadband stimulus

The American Cable Association tallied the total value of the grants that 83 of its members have applied for under the national Broadband Stimulus Program: more than $1.3 billion. It might have been more, the ACA said, but its smallest members were frozen out of the process.

Congress allocated $7.2 billion to the program, which is being managed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS)...

FCC to propose 'net neutrality' rules - WSJ.com

The head of the Federal Communications Commission will propose new rules to prevent Internet providers from selectively blocking or slowing Web traffic, a move that could set off a battle with phone and cable companies that don't want the government telling them how to run their networks.

In a speech Monday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is expected to outline proposals for new rules that would require Internet providers to treat all legal Web traffic equally, according to people familiar with the proposal. The rules would also be extended to include wireless arms of giants like AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. as well as cable providers like Comcast Corp...

Feds may spend as much as $350 million on 'broadband map'

The federal government has allocated up to $350 million to develop a map showing broadband penetration rates in the U.S. – but some in the telecommunications industry see that as being a waste of taxpayer money, since the map will show what everyone knows anyway.

The map is being developed to assist government agencies in the doling out of $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus funds as part of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, passed by Congress in February. It will show in detail where high speed Internet service (both fixed line and wireless) is available in the U.S., and how fast it is, and will serve as an important tool in deciding which of the approximately 2,200 applications for broadband stimulus funds submitted by service providers, state governments and municipalities will be approved...

Short-staffed local governments struggle with stimulus grants

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) may offer billions of dollars in stimulus funds, but short-handed local governments are having a tough time getting their hands on the money.

For cities and counties wracked by hiring freezes and staff layoffs, it's hard enough to cope with existing workloads, let alone the new demands of securing stimulus grants. Finding stimulus-related grants takes time and effort, and then the eligibility requirements must be studied and the application processes completed...

The devil is in the ... Oh, you know | Blogs | ITBusinessEdge.com

There will be a great deal of maneuvering as the Federal Communications Commission defines broadband, works out a national broadband plan, and helps figure out how to dole out funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which more commonly is referred to as the broadband stimulus. Indeed, nothing concentrates the minds of executives as much as working the system to win a competitive advantage – unless it's working overtime to protect themselves from those competitors.

The reality is that most of the real battles will take place in long filings written in stilted and boring legalese. The Washington Post describes one such battle: Microsoft and other companies in the online gaming industry think that creating a broadband plan should take into account the popularity of their wares. AT&T thinks that e-mail and other basic services should predominate...

Broadband stimulus projects won’t be blocked easily by incumbents | Unfiltered

Incumbent service providers will have a hard time trying to block broadband stimulus projects in their territories. That’s according to Craig Settles, a consultant and founder of Successful.com, who also helps stimulus applicants apply for funding.

The rules of NTIA’s broadband stimulus program allow incumbent service providers 30 days to challenge any proposed project in their territory on the grounds that broadband is already available there. Though the rules originally required incumbent challengers making that charge to report the maximized upstream and download speeds they advertise at the address level — prorietary corporate information they would be loathe to reveal — the NTIA loosened that requirement to apply more broadly to service areas and local franchise areas rather than addresses. Yesterday, however, the NTIA said incumbents would need to work harder to make their case...

The full list of applicants for broadband stimulus funding, round 1 - FierceBroadbandWireless

Nearly 2,200 bidders applied for almost $28 billion in broadband stimulus money from both the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department of Agriculture's RUS fund. That is nearly seven times the $4 billion available for the program in this first round. Below is a list of the applicants vying for grants and loans for last-mile projects broken down by technology.

Our special thanks go to Tim Sylvester, CEO of Avanzar Networks, a startup WiMAX ISP in Santa Cruz, Calif., that is vying for broadband stimulus money, for providing us with this information. The list of applicants can also be found on www.broadbandusa.gov...

WiMAX, fiber dominate first round of broadband stimulus applications - FierceBroadbandWireless

Earlier this month, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), one of the government agencies in charge of handing out a large chunk of the total $7.2 billion in stimulus money, announced that nearly 2,200 entities applied for nearly $28 billion in money from both the NTIA and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS).

That number is almost seven times the $4 billion available for the program in the first round. The details of the applicants are now available on www.broadbandusa.gov...

An open apology to public interest broadband advocates

Yesterday I called out America for its do-nothing attitude towards broadband policy, criticizing both those that'd rather see little done and may fight against progress, as well as those that aspire to achieve great progress but often don't have specific plans for reaching their goals.

My criticism of public interest broadband advocates was swiftly denounced and refuted by a series of comments, which forced me to reconsider what I'd wrote and thereby realize that I'd made a big mistake...

Governor Sanford announces Broadband Advisory Committee

Columbia, S.C. * September 16, 2009 * Governor Mark Sanford today announced a new advisory committee charged with helping prioritize applications for federal broadband infrastructure stimulus funds. Under this year’s federal stimulus act, public and private groups across the state can apply for broadband grants from a national $7.2 billion pool that are then forwarded to the Governor’s Office for prioritization.

“Going back to the Executive Budget of 2006, we’ve consistently advocated for expanding broadband access as a means of improving the economic environment and spurring on development in our state,” Gov. Sanford said. “This group of experts and statewide voices represents a small but important opportunity for us not only to work toward this larger notion of improving economic soil conditions, but indeed prioritize the way federal stimulus dollars get spent. So while we continue to believe that the so-called stimulus was fundamentally flawed in spending money the federal government doesn’t have, given that it’s now a reality, we think it’s vital that these dollars have the maximum impact possible * and that’s what this committee is all about...”

JFActivist: Govt needs your expertise to review applications for $4.5B in broadband grants

The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), a $4.5B broadband stimulus program seeks to bring universal broadband access to all Americans while creating jobs and stimulating the economy.

The administrator, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), needs experienced professionals who can review grant applications using a peer-review model...

What broadband stimulus? : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech

Hey America! We're spending billions of dollars on building bridges, repairing public housing, planting crops, and giving jobs to vets, and that's all good... but in the country's original stimulus package, $4.7 billion was devoted to something that really matters: Letting you read this blog post faster than ever before.

The broadband stimulus looks like a great idea on paper: Roll out high-speed internet to underserved parts of the country, and improve the speed that everyone has access to. And the government is willing to pay to make that happen. Sounds good in theory, right?...

Applicants for broadband stimulus money get creative -- Urgent Communications article

Tim Sylvester, CEO of Avanzar Networks, a startup WiMAX Internet service provider in Santa Cruz, Calif., that is seeking broadband stimulus money, worked for hours to create a huge spreadsheet detailing all of the companies vying for the $4 billion that’s up for grabs in the first round. He shared it with me after the National Telecommunications & Information Administration published the list of applications on www.broadbandusa.gov last week. Some rudimentary searches of the unwieldy document reveal some interesting plans when it comes to public safety.

Earlier this month, the NTIA, one of the government agencies in charge of handing out a large chunk of the total $7.2 billion in stimulus money, announced that nearly 2,200 entities applied for nearly $28 billion in money from both the NTIA and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS). That number is nearly seven times the $4 billion available from the program in the first round...

Alaskans seek $1.3 billion of broadband funds - PC World

Alaskan organizations have applied for US$1.3 billion in broadband deployment stimulus funding from the U.S. government, out of a total of $4 billion in funding available in the first round of grants and loans.

The 26 applications from Alaskan groups may demonstrate both the perceived need for broadband in rural states and optimism from some groups looking for a piece of the $7.2 billion available for broadband development across the U.S. The money is available through a huge economic stimulus package passed by the U.S. Congress early this year...

Broadband stimulus goal: 'What the heck are we doing here,' in 140 characters or less

In my high tech marketing/PR heyday, I swore by a book titled “How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds or Less” by Milo Frank.

In just over 120 pages you get a blueprint for crafting and delivering a persuasive 90-word (30-second) statement that tells people what you want and why. Both the broadband stimulus program and theFCC’s ( News - Alert) drive to create a national broadband strategy would benefit mightily if all the participants in broadband efforts read this book...

U.S. Broadband Chief: Philosophy can wait | Personal Democracy Forum

Things just got interesting over on the BlogBand. That's the unfortunately named blog written by the folks ensconced within the FCC who are leading the effort, mandated by the stimulus package, to finally cobble together some sort of comprehensive national plan to bring more, faster, and cheaper broadband Internet to the United States.

Blair Levin, the sort of agent without title over on the commission, is pushing back against a criticism that the organization's broadband corps has focused its early efforts on shining a spotlight on the current state of Internet in the U.S., rather than actually coming up with a new, and needed, philosophy of connectivity. Yes, the commission's series of nearly two dozen workshops has been webcast. And yes, the FCC is joining the rest of us in the 21st century by getting jiggy with Twitter, Facebook, and more. Yes, chairperson Julius Genachowski is sitting in the spotlight at the Gov 2.0 Summit next to tech luminary Tim O'Reilly, talking up the sparkling appeal of broadband...

Dayton works to expand Wi-Fi access

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - Dayton officials are working to expand wireless internet access in the city.

The city commission approved a resolution Wednesday that will let the city manager go forward with the application to request $10 million in federal stimulus funds. The money would allow officials to build the infrastructure needed for increasing wireless internet access across the city...

Moguls offer to lead U.S. out of broadband wilderness. | PR NEWS

Colorado businesses and organizations are seeking $1.3 billion from the federal government’s broadband stimulus program, including $530 million for a joint satellite broadband project proposed by offshoots of Charlie Ergen’s and John Malone’s competing media empires.

The government made public Wednesday a database summarizing proposals submitted for the $7.2 billion program meant to extend broadband Internet services to parts of America that lack it...

NTIA program off to a strong start

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced today that it has received applications representing all 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia to participate in NTIA’s State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program, which will assist NTIA in creating a national broadband map.

This unprecedented initiative will provide consumers with better information on the broadband Internet services available to them and inform policymakers’ efforts to increase broadband availability nationwide...

Broadband stimulus program draws local applicants | Crook County Oregon Local News | Local & State News

WASHINGTON — BendBroadband has applied for $4.1 million in federal stimulus money to expand the reach of the wireless broadband Internet service it announced at the end of July.

BendBroadband joined Internet providers, tribes and local governments across the country that submitted more than 2,200 funding requests for $4 billion in broadband stimulus money, the first round of $7.2 billion for broadband included in the stimulus bill. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs was the only other Central Oregon applicant...

Hey NTIA: Why can't you be more transparent?

I'm officially fed up with how NTIA's handling the public relations of BTOP. For starters, I don't see any compelling reasons for why this process can't be a whole lot more transparent.

Why can't we know who the reviewers are? I understand why we might not want to make public who's reviewing what application as that opens up lines to lobby and influence the review process, but why not make public the list of approved reviewers so the public can vet them for conflicts of interest and competency?...

The problem with America's do-nothing broadband attitudes/policies

While germinating for a while, it recently dawned on me what the central challenge to crafting effective broadband policies is: the do-nothing attitudes of most of America's broadband players.

This line of thinking was set off by reading Blair Levin's truly tremendous speech that he gave recently to the Free State Foundation calling for more robust and reasoned debates surrounding broadband policies. Essentially he was lamenting the prevalence of past dogma limiting new lines of thinking in broadband policy discussions...

In down economy, libraries are on frontline of connecting Americans with online government, job resources « PLA Blog

Sustained funding, broadband improvements needed to meet increased demand

With national unemployment topping 9 percent and many Americans seeking online information and new technology skills that can help keep them and their families afloat in hard times, U.S. public libraries are first responders in a time of economic uncertainty...

Why should the US stimulus rules change for the big carriers? • The Register

Now that the US broadband stimulus funding applications are in, there is rising debate over whether the rules should be changed for subsequent rounds of financing.

Many of the applicants are putting forward highly innovative plans that go far beyond simple best effort access to underserved communities and look forward to a wide range of new services and business models. This is leading powerful lobbyists to argue that, while the large operators want less stringent net neutrality conditions for future awards, the government has no need to compromise, since there are plenty of contenders capable of diversifying the US market without the large carriers getting involved...

BTOP's headed for the ditch; Here's how we can save it

Over the weekend I learned something about NTIA's handling of BTOP that shook me to the core: last week they dumped all of their applications onto states without conducting any initial review to weed out ineligible projects or including any guidelines to help frame how states should go about making their recommendations.

While there's a chance they're going to announce an initial round of cuts today, I'm not optimistic given that the volunteer reviewers I know haven't been asked to do anything yet...

Push would spread broadband across America | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Dallas Business News

Still can't get high-speed Internet at your home? Uncle Sam is on the case.

In the sprawling $787 billion stimulus program passed by Congress earlier this year, $7.2 billion was set aside to boost broadband Internet availability across the country. Now technology companies, Internet service providers, and federal and state agencies, including some in Texas, are wrestling with the challenge...

Federal government trying to make broadband available to everyone

As promised, here's my article that ran yesterday on the federal government's push to make broadband available to everyone in the U.S. Some points that I didn't have room to expand on in the story:

1) As much as we might all be in favor of ubiquitous broadband, remember that the government is going to have to subsidize these initiatives. If an area doesn't have broadband access nowadays, it's usually because it's not profitable for an ISP to build the infrastructure. So the only way to get the ISPs to lay the cable is to offer them federal subsidies. And that's taxpayer money. And the faster the broadband speed the ISPs are mandated to offer (Google wants a minimum of 10 megabits per second, but AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, for example, are in favor of much more modest minimum speeds), the bigger the subsidies. How much of your tax money are you willing to give away to make sure that every shack in Idaho can stream HD video?...

ATT says definition of broadband should not include gaming, streaming video | Techgeist

As part of the American government’s $7.2 billion plan for broadband stimulus, the FCC has had an ongoing debate in defining broadband. The sort of weak initial definition is at least 768 kbps downstream, which isn’t great, but it’s enough. AT&T, however, is now saying that the FCC definition of broadband for the purposes of stimulus should not include gaming. According to AT&T,

The pressing concern is not the ability to engage in real-time, two-way gaming, but obtaining meaningful access to the Internet’s resources and to reliable email communications and other basic tools that most of the country has come to expect as a given...

Frontier requests $55M in broadband stimulus funds - FierceTelecom

Frontier, unlike its independent telco brothers Windstream and CenturyLink, is not too proud to apply for broadband funding through the Obama administration's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The ILEC has submitted two federal broadband applications for funding it wants to use to enhance broadband availability in its West Virginia territory, via the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).

Frontier is requesting $55 million through its two broadband stimulus applications, and the company said it will provide an additional $14 million in matching funds, for a total of $69 million available to expand broadband availability and speeds in West Virginia. The first application covers areas where Frontier Communications can operate as an ILEC, while the second application is focused on those where it operates as a CLEC in West Virginia...

More on the Minnesota broadband stimulus applications « Blandin on Broadband

The list/database of NTIA applications for broadband stimulus funding came out late last week. Minnesotans submitted 28 applications in the hopper. Chris Mitchell at the Institute for Local Self Reliance took a look at the applications in terms of who best deserves the money to bring last mile connectivity to rural Minnesota. Chris, who would lean heavily towards community-based networks, put Lake County, Cook County, and City of Windom.

He also favorably mentions the applying cooperatives and Jaguar Communication, which uses an open network. Chris has done a good job analyzing and distilling the infrastructure applications in Minnesota – so I thought I’d look at the broader picture...

$100M-plus broadband map runs into cost questions | San Francisco Examiner

WASHINGTON — The national stimulus package passed by Congress in February may have been too enthusiastic about spending money on one particular project: figuring out where broadband Internet access is available and how fast it is.

The $787 billion stimulus bill championed by the Obama administration set aside up to $350 million to create a national broadband map that could guide policies aimed at expanding high-speed Internet access. That $350 million tag struck some people in the telecommunications industry as excessive, compared with existing, smaller efforts. The map won't even be done in time to help decide where to spend much of the $7.2 billion in stimulus money earmarked for broadband programs...

Broadband stimulus update and next steps in the funding process : Corporate Finance Law Blog

Last week, the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) jointly issued a press release with preliminary aggregated information about the applications submitted for the first round of broadband stimulus funding. NTIA and RUS (the “Agencies”) announced that they received approximately 2,170 applications requesting nearly $28 billion in funding, or approximately seven times the total amount allocated for this round.

As yet, very little information is available about the applications that were filed other than the aggregated data described by the Agencies. The sustainable broadband and public computer programs were more oversubscribed than broadband infrastructure, but demand far exceeds supply in all categories...

Recovery Act: Cable bids for broadband funds - Telecom News Analysis

Dozens of small- and mid-sized cable MSOs have placed bids for at least 54 proposed broadband projects linked to the first round of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

In the first round, at least $442 million is being sought for cable MSO projects, according to data culled (so far) by Cable Digital News from a searchable database the

Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) posted at BroadbandUSA.gov earlier this week. A comprehensive list of broadband stimulus fund applications for the first round is available here...

U.S. Cellular applies for $23.5M in broadband stimulus grants - FierceWireless

U.S. Cellular applied for around $23.5 million in grants from the government's broadband stimulus package. The carrier wants to expand 3G mobile broadband to rural areas in California, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

The company said in each of its applications that it will provide broadband "largely over its existing wireless network." U.S. Cellular joins other smaller operators and telecom service providers, including Clearwire, Leap Wireless and Level 3 Communications, in applying for government funds...

Stimulus money to help expand broadband in Montana's rural areas

Montana's many rural communities could receive over the next few years millions of dollars in stimulus money intended to spread high-speed Internet to communities on the wrong side of the digital divide.

No certain numbers are available about how many areas lack broadband access statewide, but examples of what a fleet connection to the World Wide Web can do for an isolated rural business are not hard to find...

BIP/BTOP to publish "executive summary" for broadband stimulus monies | STLtoday

Initially the National Telecommunications Information Agency/United States Department of Agriculture/Rural Utility Service (NTIA/RUS) stated they were only to publish our 300 character description of our Broadband Stimulus project. Our description reads as follows:

"ShowMe Broadband will be a fixed wireless network, encompassing 13 rural counties boarding the New Madrid Fault Zone. We're in an area of geologic vulnerability, an emergency response challenge!.."

Ahead of the Bell: Telecom infrastructure - Forbes.com

Federal stimulus spending for broadband expansion will drive telecommunications network infrastructure, particularly benefiting small companies, an analyst said Friday.

Jefferies & Co. analyst Jonathan Schildkraut said federal broadband stimulus money distributed to smaller carriers and others "will drive new mobile network buildouts" and require investment in wireless infrastructure such as tower cell sites...

New York counties seek $265 million in federal broadband funding

ALBANY - On the anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) has applied for federal broadband stimulus funding to construct a comprehensive public safety emergency communication system to link all levels of government law enforcement agencies. An unprecedented 36 New York county governments are seeking federal stimulus funds to finance a sweeping wireless broadband network project designed to enhance communications between and among public safety agencies.

“Counties have teamed up to leverage federal funding to connect the communication capacity of law enforcement and emergency responders in New York State,” said Yates County Sheriff Ron Spike, chair of NYSAC’s standing committee on public safety...

What we can learn from the Broadband GSD Ten « Fighting the Next Good Fight

Granted, the Broadband GSD Ten is just a Snapshot of the dozens of communities running or partnering to run successful broadband networks. However, having observed this world up close and personal for four years, I can draw some lessons here for those who have applied for stimulus grants and those queuing up the Round 2 funding process.

1. It’s time for a strong push for public-owned networks, and networks run by public/private partnerships in which local governments are more than window dressing. Going through the list of stimulus applications, it’s uplifting and very telling that so many fall into one of these two categories...

Broadband applications outstrip available funds

For every dollar the Feds grant to applicants for rural broadband stimulus funds, six dollars will go begging, at least for now. That may well be the measure of hunger in the hinterlands for high speed Internet access.

All told, communities, organizations, and corporations have filed 2,200 requests totaling $28 billion to the two agencies — the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS), and the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) – that have between them $7.2 billion to spend bringing high speed Internet access to largely rural unserved and underserved areas...

Democrats urge changes in broadband program - Nextgov

An Obama administration effort to extend broadband to communities with limited or no service drew criticism today from an unlikely constituency: Democrats.

House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., used a hearing on the $7.2 billion broadband stimulus program to outline a list of changes he wants adopted for the remaining rounds of decisions on grant and loan applications to ensure the money reaches rural areas that need it most...

Broadband agencies sort through funding applications | CivSource

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has $7.2 billion for broadband funding. And on August 20, 2009, the stimulus ball got rolling as the first wave of applications came swarming towards the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) and Rural Utilities Commission (RUS). After an initial delay due to the overwhelmed application system, NTIA officials said they had received more than 2,200 proposals amounting to $28 billion in funds. But in this round, the first of three possible waves of funding, the government has only $4 billion allocate.

Wednesday the NTIA delivered a database of applications, detailing the approved applications from every state in the Union, plus five territories and the District of Columbia. According to NTIA, applications were submitted by a wide range of broadband seekers, including state, local and tribal governments. Non-profits, libraries, hospitals, colleges and rural telecoms also applied. So did rural phone carriers. Noticeably absent among the applicants were major telecommunications carriers, like AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. Some of the largest telecoms to file applications were Hughes Networks, Level 3 and EchoStar...

Stimulus funds could provide for expansion of Frontier`s networks to make broadband connectivity available to rural, unserved and underserved areas

STAMFORD, Conn.--(Business Wire)-- Frontier Communications Corporation (NYSE: FTR),
one of the nation`s largest providers of communications services to rural areas and small
and medium-sized towns and cities, announced today that it has submitted two applications for
federal funding in West Virginia through the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP)
and the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), as part of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

If granted, the applications for an aggregate of $55 million, supplemented by Frontier`s
"match," would result in $69 million available for expanding broadband
availability and speeds in West Virginia. One application was filed on behalf of
the areas Frontier Communications is authorized to serve as an Incumbent Local
Exchange Carrier (ILEC). The second application was filed on behalf of the areas
throughout West Virginia (outside the ILEC) that Frontier is authorized to serve
as a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC)...

Strickling, Adelstein tackle rural broadband at oversight hearing - 2009-09-10 13:00:47 EDT | Broadcasting & Cable

There may only be two rounds of funding in the National Telecommunications & Information Administration/Rural Utility Service-administered $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus money. And the deadline for the second round could be pushed back, giving time to address some congressional criticisms of the guidelines for handing out the money.

That is according to NTIA head Larry Strickling, who told legislators Wednesday that was under consideration as a way to save administrative expenses and move back the deadline for any subsequent rounds of funding to apply some of the lessons learned from the first...

Database reveals pubcasting requests for broadband stimulus funds

PBS is asking for $8.7 million from broadband stimulus funds, according to a new database of first-round applicants.

PBS says it will partner with eight stations to "combine national content and existing outreach programs to stimulate demand for educational broadband content" in a project it calls PBS Broadband Communities...

RidgeviewTel chosen by KeyOn communications to model networks for $150 million federal... | Reuters

Broadband network technology provider, RidgeviewTel, recently assisted KeyOn Communications
Holdings, Inc.(OTC Bulletin Board: KEYO) in its $150 million application for federal broadband
stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of2009 (ARRA). KeyOn is one of
the largest wireless broadband companies serving rural and underserved markets in the U.S.,
and also offers satellite video and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP).  KeyOn's fourth-generation (4G) WiMAX
project will significantly expand the company's current network across 11 states.

"After reviewing several vendors and products, RidgeviewTel provided the best all-around fit
for our needs," said Bob Handell, Chief Operating Officer of KeyOn Communications.
"Their software platform, dBOSS, allowed us to simultaneously model a sizeable number of network
sites contained in our application and make any site modifications quickly and efficiently.
We also derived great benefit from the automated document creation feature. RidgeviewTel's
staff demonstrated remarkable dedication to the task..."

ERF Wireless submits first-round application for $24.6 million of broadband stimulus funding in a two-state region | Reuters

LEAGUE CITY, Texas--(Business Wire)-- ERF Wireless (OTCBB:ERFW), a leading provider of enterprise-class wireless and
broadband products and services, announced today that the company has submitted
a first-round Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) loan/grant application for
Louisiana and parts of East Texas that totals $24.6 million.

According to Dr. H. Dean Cubley, CEO of ERF Wireless, "This is exclusively a
`last mile` application that covers over 50 service areas in the most rural and
economically challenged regions of these states with a population size in the
regions covered of approximately 591,346. Parts of the region covered also
include the oil and gas region of the Haynesville Shale in East Texas and
Western Louisiana. Broadband services in these communities would also benefit
public safety, health care, education and economic development, as well as the
general population..."

Some US areas stymied by rules for Internet grants -Lawmakers - WSJ.com

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Lawmakers overseeing a $7.2 billion Internet grant and loan program said Thursday that regulators' criteria could disqualify some parts of the country from grant funding.

"Many communities are finding that the program is less helpful for them than we intended for it to be," said House Energy and Commerce Internet Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., at a hearing...

IBM plugs more money into the broadband over powerline circuit - FierceTelecom

Powerline technology may have found its niche in home networking and, more recently, in the emerging smart grid movement, but it has continually struggled to establish a presence as a broadband access service technology. IBM, however, is convinced that Broadband over Powerline (BPL) can help bridge the broadband divide in rural areas.

IBM Global Financing, Big Blue's lending and leasing business division, has established a financing agreement with DS2, a supplier of integrated chip technology for powerline vendor International Broadband Electric Communications' Broadband over Powerline Regenerating Unit (BRU) smart boxes. These so-called smart boxes are then attached to an electric utility pole to provide high-speed Internet signals to residential customers. IBEC is working with rural electric utility cooperatives to extend broadband access to ‘unserved' customers mainly in the South, East and Midwest.

KeyOn looks to consolidate rural wireless broadband market - FierceBroadbandWireless

KeyOn Communications, which recently revealed it had applied for broadband stimulus funds to roll out WiMAX, announced plans to launch an aggressive acquisition initiative, called Rural UniFi, which it says is designed to rapidly expand its subscriber base and network footprint.

The wireless broadband, satellite video and VOIP provider said it already has a network covering 50,000 square miles in 11 states, making it ideally positioned to integrate wireless broadband companies in contiguous areas. The company has already made four acquisitions, which resulted in subscriber and revenue growth...

Tech companies push to digitize patients’ records - NYTimes.com

On one proposal for health care reform at least, there is a rare bipartisan consensus: the push to computerize patient records.

The goal of moving paper medical records into the digital age has been championed for years by health care policy makers across the political spectrum, from Hillary Rodham Clinton to Newt Gingrich. As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama, too, was an advocate, and the economic crisis opened the door for an ambitious step — $19 billion put into the recovery package to encourage doctors and hospitals to install and use electronic health records...