WASHINGTON, February 19, 2010 – Commerce Secretary Gary Locke yesterday announced 10 grants totaling $357 million to help spread high-speed Internet access across the country.
WASHINGTON, February 16, 2010 – New government data show demographic groups across the nation have experienced rising broadband internet access adoption at home but disparities persist among some groups.
WASHINGTON, February 2, 2010 – The Rural Utilities Service of the Agriculture Department on Monday posted its guide to applying for grants awarded through the Broadband Infrastructure Program, or its portion of the broadband stimulus effort.
The documents, posted on the “information library” portion of the BroadbandUSA web site, include the templates necessary to apply for RUS grants under the broadband stimulus program.
The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is responsible for the bulk of the broadband grants under its Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, has not yet posted its application guide.
DENVER, January 29, 2010 – Ditch the discouragement, review successful applications and reapply, reapply, reapply, was the message at the Denver workshop on Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grants.
“Don’t fret over round one, there’s more money in round two,” said Larry Strickling, head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration at the Friday presentation. “I know folks are getting what you’re calling a rejection letter, but we’re looking at it as an ‘opportunity to reapply’ letter.”
WASHINGTON, December 29, 2009 – The American Library Association, along with other supporters of broadband build-out, has asked the government agency charged with distributing broadband stimulus funds to allocate more money for public computer centers.
SAN FRANCISCO, December 2, 2009 – The Commerce Department’s telecom arm is re-asserting itself as the prime voice for the Obama administration’s internet policies, said its chief Larry Strickling Tuesday.
Strickling didn’t provide any other details other than saying that former MIT Professor Daniel J. Weitzner is in charge of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s policy shop, and that the scope of the portfolio would be wide. It will encompass the administration’s positions on issues such as individual privacy on the internet, he said.
WASHINGTON, November 30, 2009 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration last week asked the Federal Communications Commission to release a key database of information about broadband deployment assembled from providers of high-speed internet access.
In a public notice dated Wednesday, November 25, the FCC said it intended to release this database — the Form 477 database — to the NTIA unless it received opposition from the carriers who have provided the broadband data by December 7, 2009.
CHICAGO, November 18, 2009 – One striking sentiment dominated this week’s convention of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners: The federal government remains on nearly as steep a learning curve on crafting the future of broadband as many state agencies, and the best work ahead will likely get done when public and private concerns team up.
“Of course more needs to be done, and they’re still learning [in Washington] how to reliably and effectively get the funds out,” said David Svanda of Svanda Consulting in Clarksville, Md., and a past president of NARUC.
CHICAGO, November 17, 2009 – As the 121st meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners kicked off Tuesday, the usual presentations on energy efficiency, commodities and electrical grid jiggering couldn’t match the drama and dilemma surrounding a topic that didn’t even exist a few decades ago: the future of broadband, and broadband stimulus money in particular.
That’s a $7.2 billion question—that number representing the amount of money federal agencies can deploy before September 2010. And the good news coming from three key federal players is that the money will start coming to states as soon as early next month, with grants rolling out through early 2010.
WASHINGTON, November 10, 2009 – The two government entities charged with distributing $7.2 billion to expand broadband deployment and adoption said Tuesday they are officially seeking public feedback on how to effectively get the funds to the applicants who should be receiving them. The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service were assigned by Congress in January to administer the program but no awardees have yet to be named.