Applicants, vendors wait out broadband stimulus delays | MSO Optics News | Lightwave Online

OCTOBER 2, 2009 By Stephen Hardy -- Applicants of various sizes and stripes -- not to mention the vendors who hope to supply them with equipment -- continue to drum their fingers on their desks as the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) sort through the mountain of grant and loan applications they have received.

Speaking at a track session within the FTTH Conference in Houston, TX, Calix Senior Director of Corporate Marketing Geoff Burke reported that the two organizations appear to be almost a month behind their original schedule. It took the two government organizations until this past Monday, September 28, to release maps that illustrate the census blocks targeted by proposals. Incumbents now have 30 days to challenge whether the areas targeted by the proposals are indeed unserved or underserved -- a time period that was supposed to begin in the middle of September. A due diligence on the applications that make the first cut will then follow. Given where the process now stands, Burke suggested that the November 7 target date for initial awards announcements is in jeopardy...