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...