Translations of National Broadband Plan coming on Tuesday

TheHill.com

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will release the National Broadband Plan in six languages on Tuesday at a forum in Los Angeles.

The agency's decade-long, 360-page blueprint for boosting American connectivity will now be available in Mandarin, Samoan, Tagalog, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese. The English version was released in March.

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Investing in tomorrow

Ironton Tribune

Say what you will about the federal government’s stimulus program, the initiative to improve Ohio’s Internet and broadband access will open countless doors — literally and figuratively — across the state.

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$30M in stimulus money targets area broadband service

Dayton Daily News

Com Net Inc. hopes to begin construction early in 2011 on a federally funded project to extend broadband service to rural and underserved communities in 28 western Ohio counties.

The new fiber network is to be operating by July 2013, three years from when Com Net was designated to receive $30 million in federal economic stimulus funds to do the project, said Diane Kahn, a spokeswoman for the Wapakoneta-based company.

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Broadband Money Flows to Connect Rural Schools

Education Week

Billions of dollars in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act broadband grants have begun to flow toward the nation's rural communities, aimed at erasing critical gaps in service and speed that hamper many rural schools or simply shut them out.

The grants and projects vary widely, from funding fixed wireless broadband in Michigan to providing mobile broadband access to rural Alabama. Yet all the projects focus primarily on unserved or underserved communities and in many instances will provide discounted service to anchor institutions in communities such as schools and libraries.

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Horizon project on agenda at development breakfast

Chillicothe Gazette

Bill McKell, Horizon Telecom CEO and Southern Ohio Economic Development Alliance vice chairman, has been added to the program of the Alliance's INsider OUTlook Breakfast Sept. 1 at the Chillicothe Country Club.

McKell will talk about the $95 million project being launched to bring high-capacity broadband service to 34 southern Ohio counties. The project, much of which will be paid for with federal stimulus funding, would connect 600 local community institutions in the 34-county area to Horizon's fiber optic line -- expanding connectivity in schools, homes, healthcare facilities and businesses.

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Broadband money not redundant, says advisor

Broadcasting and Cable

Obama Administration telecom policy advisor and NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling says his agency will meet an Oct. 1 deadline for a report on how it will team with the FCC to help find 500 MHz of spectrum for wireless broadband, as well as for handing out the bulk of its $4.7 billion in broadband stimulus grants. (NTIA still had about $2.5 billion of its $4.7 billion to hand out at presstime.)

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Extended broadband access coming to SE Ohio

The Daily Sentinel

CHILLICOTHE — Federal funding for a new fiber optic broadband network connecting Ohio’s Appalachian counties has been awarded to Chillicothe-based Horizon Telcom.

This $66.4 million Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program (BTOP) stimulus grant, awarded by the National Telecommunications Infrastructure Administration (NTIA), will fund 70 percent of the $94.9 million project, with Horizon providing the remaining 30 percent.

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Broadband expansion plans move forward into 2011

Jackson County Times-Journal

Big steps were announced from the Governor’s Office, Zack Space’s office and Horizion Telecom on Wednesday to bridge the “digital divide” that has for so long left a quality broadband connection unavailable in southern Ohio.

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Grants to help widen Ohio broadband access

Columbus Dispatch

WASHINGTON - Appalachian Ohio and other areas in the state lacking access to high-speed broadband Internet access are in line for a $118 million federal building boost.

Three broadband-access projects in the state, including one in the Chillicothe area and other parts of southern and southeastern Ohio, have been awarded federal stimulus grants.

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4G Wireless Evolution - Fiber on the Poles: The Final Frontier

TMC.net

The Recovery Act NTIA winners are waiting for millions of dollars of stimulus funding. The NTIA winners receiving the largest grants will install fiber on thousands of miles of poles.

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COLUMN: Largely unknown, exceptional public servant

David Broder
Cincinnati.com

Reporters learn that there are a relative handful of the public officials with whom we deal who can be counted on to expand our understanding of events. These are the men and women who have probed deeply into the forces shaping the country - or their part of it - and often anticipate the challenges to come.

During the eight years he was governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack came onto my radar as one of those rare individuals, a man who planted useful thoughts every time I interviewed him.

Blog: Why bandwidth matters

www.speedmatters.com

The United States' position in the global economy is dependent on our commitment to improving our broadband infrastructure and increasing bandwidth.

Bandwidth matters because the speed of our Internet connection affects how well we compete in today's digitally-enabled and interconnected global economy.

Over the past decade, America has steadily fallen behind its developed peers in the speed and reach of its broadband Internet network. A recent global study ranked the United States twenty-third in broadband development, far behind leaders South Korea, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. Twenty-third may even be too rosy a projection — According to Speed Matters' numbers, the United States is twenty-eighth internationally.

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COLUMN: Broadband access helps economy

People's Defender

It goes without saying that broadband-high speed Internet is changing the way Americans live their lives. It's almost hard to remember how many of us got by without it. With access to broadband, we can easily sell a car, rent an apartment, look for a job, read the news, or manage a business. Broadband can connect you to the rest of the world on your schedule, at your convenience and almost anywhere - that is unless you live in rural America.

Today too few rural Americans can take advantage of the opportunities broadband provides. Only half of rural residents can access broadband - compared to 65 percent nationwide - because too many communities in rural America don't have adequate broadband infrastructure.

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NTIA broadband stimulus funding cut by $302 million

Broadcasting and Cable

The National Telecommunications & Information Administration will have $302 million less in broadband stimulus grant money to give out by the end of next month, about 10 percent of what it still has left to hand out in the next six weeks.

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Omnicity reports on its $21 million in broadband stimulus applications

Omnicity Corp, the Midwest's largest and fastest growing fixed wireless broadband service provider announced today it recently received a Second Round Review letter ("The Letter") from the US Dept of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service ("RUS") regarding its $21m in broadband stimulus applications.

This letter pertained to two separate stimulus applications ("the Applications") that Omnicity submitted to the RUS in response to the Administration's stated objective to award $7 billion in grants and low interest loans to businesses to enable the creation of jobs and the development of broadband access to all American citizens.

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'Last-mile' internet project funded for Pike, Adams counties

Chillicothe Gazette

A 36-month time period has been set to complete a project constructing a state-of-the-art "last-mile" wireless Internet infrastructure servicing Pike and Adams counties.

Gary Cooper, president of Waverly-based Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc., provided more details on the project after the announcement during the week by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that the company would receive a $1.44 million grant and loan package to do the work.

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Gaining broadband access

WHIZ

Nearly 1,400 homes in Appalachia Ohio will soon trade in their dial-up service for broadband access.

18th District US Congressman Zack Space says a USDA grant of more than $4 million has been awarded for that project.

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Funding awarded to expand Pike Co. broadband service

Chillicothe Gazette

The latest round of stimulus act funding for broadband Internet expansion will benefit Pike County.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this week announced 126 new broadband infrastructure projects will receive funding across 38 states, including five in Ohio. One of the Ohio awards worth $1.448 million will go to Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. to provide broadband and Voice Over Internet Protocol services to unserved and underserved populations in Pike County.

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Federal Grant to Bring Broadband Service to Kinsman

WKBN-TV

Five Ohio broadband projects, funded by Recovery Act Investments, have received $14.4 million to expand service to rural areas across the state including Kinsman.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland said the money will help create jobs in seven rural counties and extend broadband service to those areas left underserved by the industry.

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Sycamore Telephone Co. gets $4-million grant to expand broadband

1330 AM WFIN

A Sycamore company has been awarded more than 4-million dollars from the federal Department of Agriculture to provide broadband internet accessibility in Sycamore, Melmore and McCutchenville.

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High speed Internet to rural Meigs Co.: Company awarded $2.9 million grant

The Daily Sentinel

New Era Broadband, which already provides some high speed Internet service to portions of rural Meigs County, has been approved for a $2.9 million federal grant to expand those services into even more areas of the county.

The grant, administered through the United States Department of Agriculture, is federal stimulus money appropriated for bringing broadband services to underserved communities in rural Meigs County. New Era Broadband began signing up customers for high speed Internet service in rural Meigs County a year ago. Currently, the company has around 117 customers but with this grant, it’s estimated those accounts could climb to 3,000. The grant is meant to reach people local providers like Suddenlink and Verizon can’t reach.

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$4.1M grant to Sycamore company to provide broadband

Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune

Three area villages are to get an increase in broadband Internet services thanks to a $4.1 million grant to Sycamore Telephone Co. from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced Wednesday the USDA is investing $1.2 billion in 126 broadband infrastructure projects in 38 states and Native American tribal areas through funding made available through the American Recovery and Stimulus Act.

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US agency announces $1.2 billion in broadband subsidies

IDG News

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) has announced $1.2 billion in grants and loans for 126 broadband deployment projects in 38 states and tribal areas.

The new awards, announced Wednesday, include grants for WiMax deployments, for fiber deployments and for DSL deployments. The RUS has now distributed more than $2.6 billion in broadband grants and loans through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), a huge economic stimulus package passed by the U.S. Congress in early 2009.

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Lobbyists converge on broadband Web battle

The Hill

The FCC proposal to bring broadband under tighter regulatory control has triggered a fierce lobbying battle in Washington.

Tech companies, cable firms and phone service providers have upped their lobbying spending. Top technology CEOs have stopped by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s office to express their point of view. And companies that have never hired lobbyists in the past have set up K Street accounts for the first time.

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Bid to spread Internet access across Colorado gains high-profile support Read more: Bid to spread Internet access across Colorado gains high-profile

Denver Business Journal

A bid for a $100.6 million federal stimulus grant, which would be used to connect hundreds of Colorado schools with super-fast Internet by 2014, is gaining support just as the last grants are being awarded.

Longmont-based nonprofit Eagle-Net, a technology purchasing cooperative for Colorado schools, is leading the project that would build a network to supply 1-gigabit broadband access for schools in every Colorado county that lack affordable high-speed Internet.

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Chicago receives $9 million BTOP grant

BroadbandBreakfast.com

The City of Chicago has won the latest Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant for $9 million. The money will be sued to upgrade and expand public computing centers across the city.

“The investment will expand and upgrade public computer centers in locations throughout Chicago and provide technology and job assistance training to residents, with a focus on at-risk youth, senior citizens, people with disabilities, and the unemployed.”