Obama's Broadband Stimulus Plan Lacks Details
According to The Washington Post, the three federal agencies in charge of spending the federal stimulus money allocated to boost broadband networks across the country -- some $7.2 billion overall -- were met with hundreds of people and long lines at the Commerce Department building Tuesday as they began to explain how the money will be spent.
Reports indicated that the agencies answered questions about broadband funding with a lot of "we're looking into that" and "we're checking into that."
Here's what we do know: The National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) is planning three rounds of funding for broadband grants, and the first funds specific for broadband will be available as early as April, according to NTIA Associate Administrator Bernadette McGuire-Rivera.
All the broadband grants must be awarded by Sept. 30, 2010. The NTIA is in charge of $4.7 billion in stimulus funds, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Communications System will manage $2.5 billion in loans and grants and $350 million for data collection, respectively. According to the Post, the FCC has been charged with coming up with a plan in a year to bring broadband Internet to everyone in the country.
"Together we have been asking for years, where is the policy for broadband? Where is the action? Where's the national commitment? Where's the beef?" asked Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps, according to a transcript of his remarks. "The fact that we are here today talking about President Barack Obama's bringing broadband to all corners of the country should be evidence enough for everyone here if you need any more evidence that change has truly come to Washington."
According to an official request for information posted by the NTIA, the agency and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service will host public, Webcast-available meetings in Washington, D.C., on March 16, 19, 23 and 24, in Las Vegas on March 17 and in Flagstaff, Ariz., on March 18 to hear opinions on how the money should be spent most effectively.
Attendees at the 2009 FOSE conference in Washington, D.C., suggested the details on broadband spending were too few to go on. While everyone from solution providers to vendors awaits exactly what's going to be done with the stimulus funding -- broadband or otherwise -- it's hard to get a handle on opportunities with little information, they said.
"The states aren't waiting around," said Joe Martin, director of business development, Government at Panasonic Computer Solutions, from the exhibit hall at FOSE. "What we're hearing from them is 'the stimulus is going to be nice, but we're not counting on it.' The areas that need to have coverage could be major metropolitan areas too. There's opportunity everywhere."
"There's a considerable amount of interest there," said Tom Rigsbee, market development manager for U.S. Federal Government Markets at Motorola. "We're trying to get partners to think about Motorola from a whole solutions perspective, and there is a big partner play around rural broadband."