Broadband's economic impact (Opinion)

Despite the volumes that have been written about broadband and the changing world -- including much that has been published under the banner of the Digital Communities program -- I'm not sure the relationship between the broadband stimulus and a healthy U.S. economy is broadly understood.

How many simply viewed the $787 billion stimulus package as a stopgap measure to create immediate jobs rather than an opportunity to reform and retool the U.S. economy for a 21st-century marketplace?...

$1.3 billion in broadband funds issued in 'core categories' of federal program

According to industry reports, the two federal agencies managing the $7.2 billion broadband stimulus program have issued a total of $1.265 billion in 65 separate awards in so-called “core categories” of the program.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has issued another $96.108 million in 54 awards to state and territorial governments for broadband mapping projects, according to Stimulating Broadband, a portal for the “New American Broadband Economy...”

Consumer broadband proving recession proof for Hughes | SpaceNews.com

PARIS — Satellite broadband hardware and service provider Hughes Communications on Feb. 24 said its U.S. consumer business is showing almost no sign of the recession, with monthly attrition rates dropping even as per-subscriber revenue increases and total subscriber growth continues.

The consumer business contrasts with Hughes’ corporate network sales of satellite terminal hardware, a business that is receding in importance for Germantown, Md.-based Hughes as it focuses on services...

Obama administration rejects Reid request for broadband stimulus extension - The Hill's Hillicon Valley

The Obama administration has rejected a plea from Sen. Harry Reid to extend a deadline for broadband stimulus applications. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the arm of the Commerce Department overseeing stimulus funding for broadband projects, said late Thursday that its March 15 deadline for second-round applications stands firm.

By law, the administration must award all of the money by Sept. 30 and cannot risk more delays, NTIA said...

Broadband in rural America: I'm not holding my breath | Business Center | Macworld

I live in the country amidst rich forests, abundant wildlife, clear starry nights and a silence so deep it often stuns visitors from the city. The price I pay: really crappy Internet access.

I'm a technology journalist who works at home, so I should have fast, reliable access. I don't. And while last year's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a. the stimulus package) included $7.2 billion to increase the availability of broadband in rural areas, I'm not holding my breath. Welcome to the land that telecommunications forgot...

What will 'broadband stimulus' actually do?

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, despite some grumbling, will be very helpful to some providers of last-mile broadband access services in rural areas, to some computing centers and to some firms that can build middle-mile wide area networks that supply enough bandwidth for them to contemplate providing multi-megabit-per-second broadband access in local areas.

It will, for the first time, allocate perhaps $100 million for end user satellite service, for the first time, from the Rural Utilities Service. One can argue all of those are positive outcomes for spending $7.2 billion of taxpayer money. What always should have been clear is that, though helpful, that amount of money is not, and never would have been, enough money to make a huge difference in rural or urban broadband adoption...

Broadband creates jobs - The Hill's Congress Blog

As the U.S. economy struggles to recover from the worst recession since the 1930s with the unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent, the federal government is understandably focused on policies that could create jobs. At the same time, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is putting the final touches on a National Broadband Plan.

Unfortunately, few policymakers understand how much the deployment of new telecommunications technologies that underlie the broadband revolution have contributed to employment in the private economy. The National Broadband Plan should be carefully designed so as not to reduce the investment in broadband technologies, which have averaged $30 billion per year since 2005...

Stimulus not a game-changer for rural providers

Rural service providers thought the broadband stimulus would mean improved economics in the form of lower costs for more expansion.

They thought wrong. At least, that’s what many companies said after receiving rejection letters from the government. So, without stimulus money to fuel growth, some operators are banking on another federal program to help juggle the expense of bringing broadband to hard-to-reach areas: the Universal Service Fund (USF) – after, of course, the USF gets an overhaul and subsidizes high-speed Internet rather than traditional voice services...

ENMR-Plateau gets broadband stimulus grant - New Mexico Business Weekly:

ENMR-Plateau Telecommunications in Clovis will receive an $11.2 million stimulus grant for broadband development. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced the award in a telephone conference with reporters.

“This investment in New Mexico and West Texas will link up thousands of community institutions to the nation’s information superhighway,” Locke said. “The private sector is lined up to connect over 700,000 homes and 36,000 businesses...”

Broadband stimulus fund applicants sharpen their proposals for the second round - GovPro article

Federal dollars are finally trickling into broadband stimulus projects, and a few trends are emerging that will serve as the blueprint for the second round of funding — in particular, a preference for private-public partnerships that involve state and local governments and a slant towards fiber projects.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), along with the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) program, are granting and loaning $7.2 billion in stimulus money to bring broadband to unserved and underserved areas. The first-round recipients will receive $4 billion, but only a fraction has been doled out. Meanwhile, both NTIA and RUS have issued rules for applying for the second round of stimulus money. The deadline is March 15...

ALA: Broadband funds awarded, lessons learned, second round open - 2/23/2010 - Library Journal

As the application window opened for the second and final round of federal broadband stimulus funds, the American Library Association has announced a $23 million grant for the state of Wisconsin and summarized lessons learned from other successful applicants.

The window of opportunity for the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) funding ends March 15. (See the ALA's Know Your Stimulus page and Broadband USA for more...)

Broadband Disconnect - Telecom Blog

About 93 million Americans -- about one-third of the country -- don't get broadband at home, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revealed in a new survey that comes to light less than a month before the Commission presents its National Broadband Plan to Congress.

According to the study, the unsurprising, chief culprit was "affordability," with 36 percent of "non-adopters" claiming that they can't afford broadband or the installation fee, a computer, or are reluctant to do a long-term service contract. The average monthly bill reported by survey respondents was $41...

U.S. broadband stimulus round two & implications for WiMAX operators — WIMAX

When announced in early 2009, the U.S. Broadband Stimulus Program was seen as a potential boon for WiMAX and broadband wireless access (BWA) providers. With both licensed and unlicensed equipment readily available, WiMAX was seen as the perfect solution for providing low cost broadband connectivity quickly and efficiently, and reportedly made up 25% of the last mile proposals submitted in the first round of the process. Overall, the U.S. Broadband Stimulus Program was so popular that over 2,200 applications totaling $28B were submitted during the first round, nearly 4 times the combined $7.2B funding allocated for the programs. The agencies were also flooded with over 11,000 public comments and challenges, many from entrenched incumbents looking to block potential new entrants into markets already served.

With the exception of announcements in the last few weeks, very little funds have been awarded under either program and little, if any, have been awarded to wireless or WiMAX projects. Of the $7.2B in the combined programs, one year later only $900M has been awarded under the programs. Furthermore, most of the awards had been given to a hand-full of "Middle Mile" programs consisting of high-speed fiber initiatives connecting the national internet backbone into community anchor institutions such as schools, libraries, community colleges and other institutions of higher education...

U.S. broadband stimulus sets aside $100 million to subsidize satellite services | PR NEWS

One year after U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which earmarked $7.2 billion to extend broadband communications across the country, satellite firms have seen little benefit from the initiative.

The vast majority of contracts awarded to date have offered money for terrestrial wireless and fiber-optic projects. Nevertheless, industry officials say a federal program set to begin this spring that will set aside at least $100 million to bring satellite-based services to remote communities is an encouraging sign...

PSU to act as network anchor | Penn State | PSU Student Portal, Penn State News

Penn State is a partner in a network of educational, health care and development institutions that landed a $99 million federal stimulus grant to create a 39-county broadband network.

Penn State will serve as one of the anchor institutions for the network, which will cover the state south of Interstate 80. The funding will go toward building a high-speed, fiber optic cable network known as the Pennsylvania Research and Education Network. It will cross 1,700 miles, including areas with poor broadband access...

The charge of the broadband stimulus brigade

If we were to distill to a simple phrase the source of many of the challenges (translation: pain, grief and aggravation) endured by those going through the first round of broadband stimulus, it would be “What if we threw a party and everybody came?”

Today, as we observe the pain, grief and aggravation of project teams attempting to pursue broadband funding in Round 2 of the stimulus program, the source of much of their misery calls up a different phrase, the poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade...”

Broadband development is huge investment in state - State Journal

WHEELING -- This week we learned about a huge investment that will spur economic growth right here in the Ohio Valley and all over the state.

It's $126 million in stimulus broadband development funding. The investment will lay 2,400 miles worth of fiber optic cable, connect more than one thousand community anchor institutions, and equip 60 West Virginia fire and emergency rescue stations with more computers and high speed internet...

ViaSat is scheduled to launch a satellite, ViaSat-1, in the first quarter of 2011

On June 11, 2009 WildBlue revealed the future of Broadband Satellite Internet with a hands-on demonstration of its "next generation" satellite capabilities in the Washington D.C..

The demonstration showcased download speeds of 18 Mbps, nearly 12-times faster than satellite internet providers current capabilities. Members of Congress got to compare than enhanced Wild Blue speeds with their current service. Why was Congress involved, you might ask. Because WildBlue provides high-speed Satellite Internet access to nearly 400,000 Americans in rural parts of the United States, that currently have no other options, other than dialup service available to them...

Illinois broadband initiative gets $13 million infusion

Through a combination of state and federal grants, northern Illinois will receive $13 million in capital funds meant to improve broadband access, Governor Pat Quinn said last week. A project meant to develop high-speed, low-cost broadband infrastructure in the DeKalb region is poised to receive the bulk of the funds, where approximately 3,600 businesses and an estimated 34,000 households will have access to the network.

The $13 million funding includes $1.3 million in Illinois Jobs Now! funds for the DeKalb Advancement of Technology Authority (DATA), which will leverage another $11.9 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, officials said...

RUS Awards $277 Million in Broadband Stimulus Funds | Telecompetitor

On behalf of the Rural Utilities Service, Dept. of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Feb. 17 announced the awarding of 11 broadband infrastructure projects in nine states–an investment of more than $277 million–marking the one-year anniversary of Pres. Obama signing the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Announcing the opening of a second, and final, round of grant application filing this past Tuesday, the RUS and the Dept. of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration continue to work their way through the unexpectedly large number of first-round broadband stimulus grants...

Zayo Bandwidth awarded $25.1M federal stimulus award to expand Indiana broadband network

LOUISVILLE, Colo., Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ — Zayo Bandwidth, a regional provider of fiber-based bandwidth infrastructure solutions for carrier, enterprise and government customers, announced today, that it has been awarded $25.1M from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to connect 21 Ivy Tech Community College campuses to the I-Light network, Indiana's high-performance, optical-fiber telecommunications network for research and education. The award also will allow Zayo Bandwidth to expand broadband connectivity to certain unserved and underserved areas across the State of Indiana...

Rural broadband service coming to libraries, schools - but not homes - JSOnline

High-speed Internet access could be coming to rural Wisconsin schools and libraries soon, but it could be years before the service is available to businesses and homes in some areas - if it's ever available.

Gov. Jim Doyle said Thursday that Wisconsin will receive nearly $23 million in federal stimulus money to provide high-speed, or broadband, Internet access to 467 sites in 380 communities.

More than 200 miles of fiber-optic cable will be installed to bring the service to 385 libraries and 82 schools...

Illinois gets 1st stimulus funds for broadband access | Crain's Chicago Business

(Crain's) — Far West DeKalb County won $13.2 million in federal and state money to improve Internet access, the state’s first broadband access grant under the federal stimulus program.

Illinois is seeking more than $400 million from the $7.2 billion set aside for states and localities that don’t have access to fast Internet service now. That includes $100 million sought by Chicago to create free public wireless networks across the city...

NTIA doles out another $12 million in broadband stimulus grants - 2010-02-19-Multichannel News

The bucks continue to fly out of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration.

On Friday, NTIA announced it has geivn out another $11.9 million in broadband stimulus grants, the latest to DeKalb County and portions of LaSalle County, both Illinois...

Fiber shines again in latest NTIA broadband stimulus announcements | FTTX News | Lightwave Online

FEBRUARY 19, 2010 By Stephen Hardy -- The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has released additional broadband stimulus funds under its Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). As was the case with previous funding announcements, projects leveraging fiber-optic technology did extremely well (see "First broadband stimulus awards announced" and "Fiber dominates latest US rural broadband stimulus funds release").

The NTIA made a pair of funding announcements over the past week. The most recent came yesterday, when Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced 10 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act investments worth a total of $357 million. Broadband infrastructure grants accounted for $332.9 million of this total, of which fiber-enabled projects accounted for $274 million...

State given $130 million to expand high speed Internet access - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

A pair of projects that will expand broadband Internet access in 39 Pennsylvania counties, including 22 that have little if any high-speed service, will receive $130 million in federal stimulus funds, officials said Thursday.

"The two investments we are announcing will bring high-speed Internet access to nearly 3 million Pennsylvania citizens and 400,000 businesses," said Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, speaking at Carnegie Mellon University...

Lawmakers release guidelines for second round of broadband stimulus cash - The Hill's Hillicon Valley

Democrats chiefly in charge of monitoring broadband stimulus dollars released guidelines on Friday for the second round of federal grants.

About $4 billion are available for states that wish to expand broadband Internet access to underserved communities, explained Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), chairwoman of her chamber's small businesses committee, who drafted the guidelines...

NTIA awards 10 more broadband funding grants - FierceTelecom

Another 10 broadband funding grants have been doled out by the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to fund broadband projects in eight states under the government's broadband stimulus program.

Distributed under the NTIA's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), the NTIA has awarded a total of $357 million in grants to fund projects in California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin...

Broadband definition in U.S. is too slow | alvear.com

I just read an article about the FCC’s new broadband competition map on GigaOm, where they say that it’s pretty much useless. I agree that the U.S. defines broadband as way too slow. According to old FCC rules, broadband is defined as under 200Kbps.

New rules say broadband is 768Kbps. Still pretty slow, and not enough to handle IPTV or even some HD Internet video sites...

Commerce Secretary announces funding for broadband Internet access - WTRF-TV

WHEELING -- Thursday Sen. Jay Rockefeller joined U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling, Gov. Joe Manchin, Congressman Allan B. Mollohan, and Congressman Nick Rahall to announce more than $130 million in funding for broadband internet access for West Virginia. Rockefeller is Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee which oversees broadband initiatives.

“This major funding is a real game-changer for West Virginia—I cannot overstate how many lives are going to be impacted and how thrilled I am to make this announcement with Secretary Locke and Administrator Strickling,” said Rockefeller. “This funding is about universal access to the internet so that no West Virginian is ever left behind. This is about staying competitive at a time when nations around the globe have invested billions in state-of-the-art technology. And most importantly, this is about creating much needed, good paying high-tech jobs and economic growth—precisely the type of long-term investment I fight for every day for every West Virginian...”

The broadband stimulus, Part two | Blogs | ITBusinessEdge.com

The clock began ticking this week on the second of two application periods for broadband stimulus funding.

The good news is that the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) -- part of the Commerce Department -- at least appears eager to give out money. NTIA administrator Lawrence Strickling is quoted in this Government Technology piece saying that the department is looking for public/private partnerships, that the application process won’t be onerous and that a common-sense approach will be used...

FCC Chairman previews national broadband plan

The National Broadband Plan to be released in March will set a high bar for broadband coverage: 100 million households at 100 megabits per second (Mbps), with broadband adoption as a whole at 90 percent.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski set the targets in remarks Tuesday at the National Association of regulatory Utility Commissioners NARUC Conference in Washington, D.C., during which he laid out a broader preview of what will be in the National Broadband Plan...

New data: 40% in U.S. lack home broadband - USATODAY.com

WASHINGTON — Roughly 40% of Americans do not have high-speed Internet access at home, according to new Commerce Department figures that underscore the challenges facing policymakers who are trying to bring affordable broadband connections to everyone.

The Obama administration and Congress have identified universal broadband as a key to driving economic development, producing jobs and bringing educational opportunities and cutting-edge medicine to all corners of the country...

40% of Americans do not have broadband at home, Commerce Department statistics show | Business - cleveland.com

WASHINGTON -- Roughly 40 percent of Americans do not have high-speed Internet access at home, according to new Commerce Department figures that underscore the challenges facing policymakers who are trying to bring affordable broadband connections to everyone.

The Obama administration and Congress have identified universal broadband as a key to driving economic development, producing jobs and bringing educational opportunities and cutting-edge medicine to all corners of the country...

It’s D-Day for broadband stimulus round two | Telecompetitor

Both NTIA and RUS are now accepting applications for the second round of the broadband stimulus program. The program officially opened at 8:00a ET today and applicants have until March 15th to apply. There was some speculation that the D.C. ‘snowmaggedon’ blizzards of the past couple weeks, which shut the federal government down for an unprecedented four days, would delay the opening. But the BroadbandUSA.gov website states everything is on schedule.

There are significant changes between round one and round two of the program. Both the BTOP and BIP programs have issued presentations to summarize the differences (click on BTOP or BIP to access them). The changes to the program came about in part by a request for information (RFI) for suggestions in streamlining the round two process. The government received 225 comments offering suggestions...

FCC Chair sets 2020 broadband vision - Telecom News Analysis

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) still has another month to deliver its National Broadband Plan to Congress, but Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has already served up a key goal that's tied to the Plan's "2020 vision" to deliver 100-Mbit/s services to 100 million households.

Genachowski made mention of that "100 Squared" initiative today during a speech to the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) conference in Washington. But that stated goal shouldn't be all that hard to reach based on the current deployment status of Docsis 3.0 and other broadband technologies that can already achieve such speeds...

Spurring broadband deployment: Standards and Incentives

Today I want to attempt to lay out a high-level framework for how our national broadband plan could spur broadband deployment on an ongoing basis.

It starts with the idea of establishing broadband standards. These standards will be the metrics by which we can determine if a community is fully served, if its users have access to enough bandwidth at an affordable enough price to do what they want/need to do...

Ohio partnership gets $43M for electronic health records - Dayton Business Journal:

The Ohio Health Information Partnership was awarded more than $43 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to help make electronic health records more widely available.

The partnership, the state designated entity for health information exchange development, landed $43.3 million in stimulus funding. The state also allocated $8 million in the 2010-11 biennial budget to the Ohio Department of Insurance to support efforts in health information technology...

Officials: Federal broadband stimulus program will have significant impact

California state officials and experts from the broadband industry expressed high hopes that the federal broadband stimulus program would have a significant impact on broadband availability and the industry in the months to come.

Joe Camicia, chief of staff for California’s chief information officer, and a member of Governor Schwarzenegger’s Broadband Task Force, said:“Today, people are waiting in lines at public libraries to use computers so they can apply online for jobs. This is an example of how federal dollars will help individuals tremendously.” He added that California has won only two federal awards so far, and that he hopes to see California win some 10 percent of the total funding that will be disbursed...

The State of the Union and the politics of USF

Although Washington, D.C. was closed down this past week with over 40 inches of snow and Congress is in recess for the coming week, the inactivity here is in sharp contrast to what will be in the coming months after the FCC release of the Broadband Plan next month. In the latestBack Page, Tom Smith, our Congressional advisor and editor of the Independent Report, offers his thoughts on the changing political landscape and the November elections and the inevitable tie to change in USF.

While public interest groups and large telecom companies position for the debate ahead, the Back Page raises both a question and a call for the rural independent industry to commit the resources needed to mount the grass roots response...

Inside the broadband stimulus workshops

With the final funding window for broadband stimulus applicants opening on Feb. 16, groups submitting proposals should pay attention to the guidance offered at workshops being hosted around the country by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Rural Utilities Services (RUS). The two federal agencies are disbursing $7.2 billion set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for broadband projects.

The NTIA and RUS have conducted seven workshops, so far, with two more scheduled -- one in Fayetteville, N.C., and another in Atlanta...

Business News: Map shows broadband access at street level

For the first time, anyone in Tennessee can log onto an interactive online map and find out what high-speed Internet providers have service at their exact address.
The online map, put together by nonprofit Connected Tennessee and unveiled this week, will be updated in the coming months with specific Internet speeds available for each neighborhood, said Michael Ramage, the executive director of the group.

"This is as detailed as there is,'' he said. People also can see what percentage of a neighborhood has computers and uses broadband Internet connections...

Broadband stimulus provides windfall for rural New York

While several broadband buildouts have received tens of millions of dollars from the federal government, the largest so far is a project that will deploy high-speed broadband all throughout New York State.

The ION Upstate New York Rural Broadband Initiative has received a $39.7 million grant to stretch out its existing fiber network throughout western and upstate New York. Overall, the fiber network will span 1,308 miles and 70 rural communities, and will bring broadband access to an estimated 250,000 households and 38,000 businesses...

Maximizing the stimulus funding

The first round of the stimulus funding announcements are out, and reading through the project descriptions one sees frequent reference to fiber based technologies, but very little of other technologies.

While it is good news that the stimulus funds are finally being allocated, the focus on fiber leads one to wonder if the monies are being used as efficiently as possible. Surely a combination of technologies, both wireline and wireless, would result in the most economical network. If we look at other countries deploying broadband networks to provide services in underserved areas, we find that fiber is only the dominant technology where local labor costs are so low that fiber installation is virtually free, or where the economy is controlled centrally and not driven by market forces to deliver the most economical solution...

Inside the broadband stimulus workshops

With the final funding window for broadband stimulus applicants opening on Feb. 16, groups submitting proposals should pay attention to the guidance offered at workshops being hosted around the country by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Rural Utilities Services (RUS). The two federal agencies are disbursing $7.2 billion set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for broadband projects.

The NTIA and RUS have conducted seven workshops, so far, with two more scheduled -- one in Fayetteville, N.C., and another in Atlanta...

Federal broadband stimulus program bolsters CA's broadband industry

(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- At an open meeting hosted last week by high-capacity fiber-optic equipment provider Infinera (www.infinera.com) at its Sunnyvale, California, headquarters, state officials and leaders from the broadband industry expressed high hopes that the federal broadband stimulus program would have a significant impact on broadband availability and the industry in the months ahead.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 directed $7.2 billion of government funds for broadband and wireless Internet access to unserved and underserved communities across the US. Infinera co-founder and chief marketing and strategy officer Dave Welch called on the federal government to ensure that broadband policy encourages competition, praising the proposed Broadband Deployment Conduit Act as an enabler of more competition and more cost-effective broadband networks...

California officials, broadband industry leaders express high hopes for federal broadband stimulus program

At an open meeting hosted last week by Infinera at its Sunnyvale headquarters, California state officials and leaders from the broadband industry expressed high hopes that the federal broadband stimulus program would have a significant impact on broadband availability and the industry in the months ahead.

Joe Camicia, chief of staff for California's Chief Information Officer, and a member of Governor Schwarzenegger's Broadband Task Force, praised the award of $7.5 million to LA CAN for an upgrade of 188 public computer centers in low income areas of Los Angeles. "Today, people are waiting in lines at public libraries to use computers so they can apply online for jobs," Camicia said. "This is an example of how federal dollars will help individuals tremendously." He added that California has won only two federal awards so far, and that he hopes to see California win some 10% of the total funding that will be disbursed. "We are eagerly awaiting more announcements," he said...

Fiber optics, not magic beans: rural Idaho hopes for broadband stimulus | Reclaim the Media

Bruce Patterson is the one-man IT department for Ammon, a small town of 13,000 near Idaho Falls. He is fed up with companies overlooking the town when they discover the cost of Internet is prohibitive.

"There's a tremendous business in medical imaging and legal services in Idaho Falls, a city of 50,000 that has municipal fiber optic. But we can't attract any of those businesses," he said. "Metro areas are the dominant market for the big companies. A lot of communities are facing that we will be the last served." So three years ago, Ammon began planning a project to reach 4,500 unserved and underserved Internet users with a high-speed "virtual broadband gateway" run by the city...

Broadband stimulus: A tiny step forward

The February 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides a total of $7.2 billion to the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service and the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration to fund projects that expand access to and adoption of broadband services. First round award announcements began in late 2009.

As you might expect from a political process, stimulus money is funding a few gems and a lot of credible programs, but makes no fundamental change in policy or industry structure, thus the decline in our international position – at least with respect to broadband speeds, prices and availability – is likely to continue. Still, there are some rays of hope...

Virginia puts schools on high-fiber diet with broadband funds

A very strong augur of how the government's $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus money will be spent came this week with the Department of Commerce's announcement that $21.5 million of those funds have been awarded to two Virginia-based outfits intent on bolstering that state's school systems with high-speed fiber.

"This is a huge boost for Southside Virginia," declared Rep. Tom Perriello at the press conference for the announcement, "benefiting our kids' educational success in the short term and building our region's javascript:void(0)long-term competitive advantage for the 21st century..."

100 broadband stimulus applications still in play for California

Roughly 100 broadband stimulus applications connected to California are still in play for the first of the federal government's two funding windows for dispersing $7.2 billion set aside for broadband projects, according to Joe Camicia, chief of staff for the California CIO's Office.

"About 50 of those are California-only applications," Camicia said. "The other half touch California in some way, but the 50 that are all California, we think are going to provide the most jobs for Californians..."

Should I apply for the second round of the stimulus?

With the second NOFA out, now is the time everyone must decide whether it's worth applying for stimulus dollars.

While at first blush the answer may seem obvious as how can anyone turn down the opportunity at free money, when you dig a bit below the surface it becomes less clear...

RUS plans satellite stimulus round

In an unprecedented move, the Rural Utilities Service, which traditionally has funded fixed telephone and wireless network deployments in rural America, is preparing a request for proposals related to satellite broadband. The RFP is not expected before Feb. 15, 2010.

RUS executives have indicated the satellite program might allocate $100 million, possibly more, exclusively for extending end user access to satellite broadband services, said Dean Manson, Hughes Network Systems (News - Alert) SVP and general counsel...

Broadband and recovery - the ARRA and state policies in 2010 | Progressive States Network

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) apportioned $7.2 billion to stimulate the development of broadband infrastructure and services. As the U.S. is now ranked only 17th in global use of broadband and information technology, the ARRA is not only considered a job creator, but also key to regaining long-term economic competitiveness for the nation.

Moreover, as a recent study documents, broadband is becoming a significant determinant of economic vitality at the local level...

Mass. city becomes testing ground for boosting broadband adoption

Increasing broadband adoption isn't just about building out networks in underserved areas -- it's also about showing people who don't use broadband what they're missing.

To that end, the federal government has awarded the University of Massachusetts in Lowell a grant of $783,000 to design and implement a broadband promotion program in Lowell, Mass. The grant awarded is part of the $4 billion in broadband stimulus funding released by the government this past summer. The program's key initiative will be to build 11 public computer centers that UMass Lowell estimates will "serve 6,650 new broadband users and add 7,500 additional broadband subscribers" in Lowell and the Merrimack Valley area...

Virginia receives $ 21.5 million in broadband stimulus funds

As announced earlier today by U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), and the Obama Administration's Chief Information Officer Aneesh Chopra, two organizations in Virginia will receive over $21.5 million in federal broadband stimulus funds.

Both groups, the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative and theVirginia Tech Foundation, Inc., have been awarded the funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), administered by the National Telecommunciations and Information Administration (NTIA). NTIA manges Commerce's portion of the $7.2 billion broadband stimulus program fudned by the Recovery Act...

Stimulus funds for high-speed Internet access tangled up - USATODAY.com

The Obama administration knew that there'd be a lot of interest in the $7.2 billion for high-speed Internet projects it included in last year's huge economic stimulus package.

The goal was to quickly create tens of thousands of jobs and connect millions of poor and rural communities to broadband, a technology that's essential for economic development, modern medicine and education...

Virginia broadband cooperative receives $15 million in broadband stimulus | Telecompetitor

The latest recipient of broadband stimulus funding – the MidAtlantic Broadband Cooperative (MBC). MBC is a member owned cooperative that operates a fiber network in rural southwestern Virginia. MBC received $15 million in grants out of $20 million that were announced today for projects in Virginia.

MBC intends to use the funding to add 465 miles of new fiber that will directly connect 121 K-12 schools in Southern Virginia to an existing 800-mile fiber high-speed network. According to MBC’s grant application, this funding will improve “connection speeds for these schools from 1.5 Mbps to at least10 Mbps...”

Fiber dominates latest US rural broadband stimulus funds release | Fiber to the Home Council

JANUARY 25, 2010 -- Fiber-optic technology proved popular once again in the latest round of U.S. rural broadband stimulus funding. At least nine of the 14 projects announced today will use fiber for middle-mile or last-mile networks...

Stimulus money provided for SC broadband expansion

The U.S. Commerce Department has announced that federal stimulus monies will help increase broadband Internet access in South Carolina. The state gets $5.9 million to expand Internet access at its 16 technical colleges. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke says The “Reach for Success” project will add more than 2,000 new computers to expand the capacity of 51 public computer centers and create 19 new computer labs.

“With all of this combined, they’re gonna be doubling the number of workstations to more than 3,200 — basically a workstation is a computer and a terminal and desk and so forth. And they’re gonna be able to accommodate more than double the number of users every week from 17,000 now to 38,000 users per week.”Sixth District Congressman James Clyburn says new figures show the loss of jobs is slowing down, and greater broadband Internet access can help continue that trend by helping South Carolinians have more opportunities for education and improving their job skills..."

The broadband stimulus pipeline: NTIA rejects $6.33 billion in 667 ‘BTOP only’ broadband stimulus applications

San Francisco - One of the two federal agencies managing the $7.2 billion broadband stimulus program has to date rejected $6.33 billion in applications for funding, from among the total $27.662 billion in monies applied for.

Following on the heels of our report of January 22 that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) was in the process of mailing out some 1,400 rejection letters to applicants, last Friday the agency quietly updated its online database with information showing the rejected requests...

Education Week: Multiple stimulus aid streams flow to ed tech

State education officials and local school districts are working to use technology money from the federal economic-stimulus package to develop initiatives that do everything from consolidate data systems to create high-quality digital content for school laptops.

But much of the $650 million in stimulus funding for Enhancing Education Through Technology—the federal government’s main educational technology program—has yet to trickle down to districts. Some schools instead are looking to other pots of money in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the 2009 stimulus law, to shore up their technology investments more quickly...

Alaska company wins $25.3 mmllion broadband Stimulus Grant

Broadband stimulus projects focused on delivering high-speed Internet services directly to citizens represent one of four categories for which grants are being awarded by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the two agencies distributing $7.2 billion set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for broadband projects. Networks that bring services directly to users are referred to as "last mile."

Among the winners in the last-mile category was Alaska-based Sea Lion Management Group, partnered with Colorado-based Rivada Networks. The two companies secured $25.3 million from the RUS to bring high-speed wireless connectivity to 44 impoverished communities in southwestern Alaska. Many of the homes in those communities lack access to water and sewer systems. Residents use outhouses and haul water manually from a central location. Some of the villages are not connected to main roads and are usually accessed by small airplanes...

Will Qwest bid for broadband stimulus?

Qwest seems to be taking another look at applying for "broadband stimulus" funds after a significant change of rules by the Rural Utilities Service and National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Denver Business Journal reports.

It appears that the rules changes, which originally barred "rural" projects within 60 miles of a city or town, have been amended in ways that could provide Qwest with what it needs to apply.
"The good news is that they seem to have heard us in Washington, D.C.," says Chuck Ward, Qwest's Colorado president...

1,400 rejection letters sent to broadband stimulus applicants

Disappointing news reached 1,400 broadband stimulus grant applicants who got rejection letters this week from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), one of two federal agencies distributing $7.2 billion set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for broadband projects.

The agency received more than 1,800 applications for the first of its two broadband stimulus funding windows. With 15 awards already announced, that leaves roughly 400 applications still in play for the first funding window. Winners are being announced on a rolling basis...