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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...
America's broadband stimulus program continues to get more and more absurd. On March 22nd, NTIA released a list of the status of remaining BTOP applications. On that list were a number of applications still pending, their status unresolved despite having...
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...
I just read this story over on the Hillicon Valley blog about NTIA rejecting Sen. Reid's request that they extend the application deadline for the second round of the stimulus. I'm now going to attempt to express my feelings about...
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...
On Friday afternoon NTIA/RUS slipped the NOFA for the second round of the stimulus out their front door, starting the two-month clock on the next opportunity to make a grab for government dollars. Less than a fraction of the first...
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...
There's been a lot of buzz around the benefits and relative viability of wiring all community anchor institutions (schools, libraries, hospitals, etc.) with fiber as the way to get the best bang for the broadband buck. But recent conversations with...
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...
[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...
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...
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