App-Rising.com covers the intersection of broadband networks, applications, and policy. It focuses on how America can maintain its leadership position at the dawning of the next generation of the Internet.
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During the course of packing and getting ready for our move to Lafayette, LA, I happened to meet someone who works at the Commerce Department. While making small talk, I shared my interest in fiber. The gentlemen had an interesting...
I have to admit, I'm more than a little surprised at how little uproar there's been about NTIA's decision to shift course midstream in round one of the broadband stimulus and not fund any last mile projects. In the round...
For anyone who's observed or experienced firsthand the first round of the broadband stimulus, the issues with how NTIA and RUS have handled things are rampant. Here are just a few of the questions that I and many others have...
Something dawned on me over the weekend about the broadband stimulus: public last mile projects had zero chance of receiving funding in Round I. But how could this be? Wasn't the stimulus supposed to prioritize public projects? Wasn't the stimulus...
Recently an analogy has sprung to mind describing how the broadband stimulus has run to date that I can't get out of my head. It's that of broadband stimulus applicants as Charlie Browns repeatedly trying to kick the football only...
One year ago today, Congress passed the ARRA, appropriating $7.2 billion to NTIA and RUS to stimulate broadband deployment across America. So how have they done so far? What have they gotten done in a year's time? Let's pull out...
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...
Last week I wrote about how NTIA and RUS were failing stimulus applicants by not communicating with them. While there has been some good news since then, namely that at least NTIA will be sending out rejection letters, I think...
With so much buzz built up around the stimulus, especially now that awards are finally being made, there's disturbingly little being said about what happens after the money runs out. The only recent discussion I've seen is this great call...
While I've been critical of NTIA over the course of the stimulus to date, I've had limited opportunities to engage in a direct dialog with them, so my criticisms were really about the perception of what NTIA's doing rather than...
So here's where things currently stand regarding the broadband stimulus as I see them: - It's been eight months since the stimulus passed, and the only money to be awarded has been to four states for mapping. - It's been...
In reading through some more of the stimulus application database, a question keeps popping into my head: should we be considering funding deployments of 3G wireless? The biggest reason I ask this is because isn't 4G and LTE deployment just...
[Edit: Was just notified by the inimitable Christopher Mitchell of Muninetworks.org that BroadbandUSA.gov has revised an error in their database that used to sort states based on where the applicants were located rather than the project service areas. There are...
Last Monday I wrote about how I'd heard that NTIA had dumped all the unreviewed BTOP applications on the states. I backed off from those comments somewhat in my post last Tuesday as I'd tried getting this bit of news...
So over the last couple of days curiosity has gotten the better of me and I've started perusing the BTOP application database available here. In it I've found a whole range of projects, from those requesting tens of thousands or...
I'm officially fed up with how NTIA's handling the public relations of BTOP. For starters, I don't see any compelling reasons for why this process can't be a whole lot more transparent. Why can't we know who the reviewers are?...
Over the weekend I learned something about NTIA's handling of BTOP that shook me to the core: last week they dumped all of their applications onto states without conducting any initial review to weed out ineligible projects or including any...
So let's start by admitting that I've been worried about NTIA's BTOP stimulus program for a while now. It began with the disappointing NOFA, which focused too much on the unserved and set inadequate bandwidth thresholds. But even more troubling...
So the deadline for submitting applications for the first chunk of money from the broadband stimulus programs is basically today. NTIA and RUS have also announced that they're giving themselves a Sept 14th deadline for when they're going to unveil...
In continuing to review the NTIA/RUS NOFA I'm getting a little confused: wasn't the broadband stimulus supposed to be about jobs, jobs, jobs? That's what we'd been told over, and over, and over again, that its number one priority and...
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