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...