WASHINGTON, August 18, 2010 – The departments of Agriculture and Commerce announced a new set of broadband grants totaling $1.8 billion across 37 states. The 94 projects announced include the first satellite projects under this grant system.

WASHINGTON, August 16, 2010- New Mexico entities received a $10.6 million broadband stimulus grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and support for a $63.8 million project from the Rural Utilities Service of the Department of Agriculture.

The NTIA grant will be given to North Central New Mexico Economic Development District to deploy a middle-mile project across three counties and five tribal areas. The project will directly serve 123 community anchor institutions, 19,227 homes and 1,332 businesses. “Middle mile” projects aim to expand the availability of broadband interconnections to companies and organizations that offer service to end-users.

WASHINGTON August 10, 2010- The House has voted to pass HR 1586, which primarily provides funding for states for education funding and Medicaid. In order to offset the costs of the new funds, $302 million will be rescinded from broadband stimulus funds. The Senate has already passed the legislation.

WASHINGTON, August 9, 2010 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Rural Utilities Service are doing a pretty good job awarding broadband stimulus funding, although both agencies face risks as the Sept. 30 deadline nears for doling out the money.

WASHINGTON August 6, 2010 – Attached to yesterday’s Federal Medical Assistance Percentage Bill was an amendment which removed “$302 million in Recovery Act funding provided to the Department of Commerce for broadband grants.” The bill passed the Senate 61-38.
Overall the amendment includes $7.5 billion in recessions as offsets.
House Speaker Pelosi has already called [...]

WASHINGTON, August 5, 2010 – WiMax has always been seen as one of the ideal solutions to bring high-speed internet access to rural America, but it has yet to achieve its full potential. With the majority of mobile providers choosing long term evolution, or LTE, as their preferred 4G technology, WiMax seems to have lost its momentum. However the technology has become increasingly popular in Asia.

WASHINGTON August 5, 2010- Wednesday’s announcement by the Department of Agriculture included 44 DSL projects, of which 39 were given to a subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems (TDS).

WASHINGTON August 4, 2010-With only 60 days left to disperse the remaining $4 billion in stimulus funding the departments of Commerce and Agriculture have released a schedule of disbursement.

WASHINGTON August 4, 2010 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced the funding of 126 new broadband projects with a funding total of $1.2 billion. The projects will span 38 states and a number of Native American tribal areas.

WASHINGTON, August 3, 2010- Guam area telecom company GTA Teleguam has claimed that IT&E’s grant request is frivolous since there are no unserved areas in Gaum.

WASHINGTON July 30, 2010- The City of Chicago has won the latest Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant for $9 million. The money will be used to upgrade and expand public computing centers across the city.

WASHINGTON July 29, 2010- With a vote of 308- 114 the House has approved a supplemental appropriations, HR 4899, which eliminates previous amendments that would have rescinded broadband funding.

WASHINGTON July 29, 2010- The National Business Center an office within the Department of the Interior is seeking a study of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.

WASHINGTON July 19, 2010 – Governor Mark Parkinson has established a 24 member advisory group to work with Connect Kansas to implement various broadband initiatives. The new group, called the Kansas Broadband Advisory Task Force, will develop a set of recommendations to help support statewide availability in accordance to the National Broadband Plan. The state has yet to receive any grants from the Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program but it did receive $2 million to conduct mapping activities.

WASHINGTON July 15, 2010- The National Association of Telecommunications and Advisors (NATOA) and the National Association of Counties have sent a letter to Senators Reid, Durbin, Inouye, Rockefeller and Kerry urging them to prevent the House from rescinding broadband funding.