Broadband stimulus awards delayed - Urgent Communications article

Winners of federal broadband stimulus awards won't be announced until December, a month later than originally planned. Larry Strickling, chief of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) cited the complexity of sorting through the vast number of applications that were received. He said the agency wants to take more time with the first round.

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, NTIA, along with the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) program, is granting and loaning some $7.2 billion in stimulus money that is to be used to bring broadband to unserved and underserved areas. The first round will see entities receive some $4 billion, but the government will release the remaining funds in 2010...