NTIA and RUS Complete Broadband Stimulus Awards
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, October 4, 2010 · 
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Last week NTIA and RUS announced a handful of new investments as both agencies scrambled to meet the September 30 deadline to award nearly $7 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding. With these awards the government has now formally announced all the winners in the broadband stimulus program.
NTIA awarded $206.8 million in grants to 14 new investments, including two comprehensive community infrastructure awards ,six public computer center awards and six sustainable broadband adoption awards. This follows closely on the heels of a$115.2 million grant to the Maryland Department of Information Technology.
In total, NTIA has invested in 233 Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) projects, mainly middle-mile ventures. Based on estimates provided by grant recipients, the projects will: Read more
Govt Announces $1 Billion in New Broadband Stimulus Awards
Posted by Jesse Ward on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 · ·
This past Monday was a broadband stimulus bonanza, with the federal government awarding a little more than $1 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) grant funding.
RUS announced that $518 million will be invested in 43 new broadband infrastructure projects that will create jobs and provide rural residents in 27 states and Native American tribal areas access to improved Internet service. An additional $34.1 million in private investment also will be committed to the projects.
The largest grant, $66.4 million, was awarded to Lake County in Minnesota for a fiber-the-premises (FTTP) network. Other RUS Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) grants of note: Read more
New Broadband Stimulus Awards Include Satellite, Public Safety Networks
Posted by Jesse Ward on Thursday, August 19, 2010 · ·
Yesterday Vice President Biden announced that as part of the second round of broadband funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the government has awarded $1.8 billion to 94 new broadband projects within 37 states.
This announcement includes 66 grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) to deploy broadband and connect community anchor institutions, create and upgrade public computer centers, and encourage the sustainable adoption of broadband service. It also includes 28 awards from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for broadband infrastructure and satellite projects that will provide rural residents in 16 states and Native American tribal areas access to improved service.
The University of Arkansas received the largest financial award,$102 million, to connect community anchor institutions throughout the state. Other winners include Windstream which received more than $64 million for four new projects; Yadkin Valley Telephone Membership Corp. which received more than $21 million for a FTTH network; and Peoples Telephone Cooperative which was awarded more than $28 million to provide middle-mile broadband service in eastern Texas, connecting 190 community institutions to broadband.
For the first time the stimulus winners include four satellite operators: Read more
RUS Awards $1.2 Billion in Stimulus Funds
Posted by Jesse Ward on Thursday, August 5, 2010 · ·
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) announced the funding of 126 new broadband infrastructure projects that will create jobs and provide rural residents in 38 states and Native American tribal areas access to improved service. Today’s announcement is part of the second round of USDA broadband funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
In all, $1.2 billion will be invested in the 126 broadband infrastructure projects. An additional $117 million in private investment will be leveraged, bringing the total funds invested to $1.31 billion.
A complete list of projects receiving ARRA broadband grant awards today can be viewed online. A few of the big winners in this round: Read more
Government Awards $795 million in Stimulus Round 2
Posted by Jesse Ward on Tuesday, July 6, 2010 · ·
President Obama announced the first 66 winners in the second funding round of the ARRA broadband stimulus program. The awardees include municipalities, educational institutions and tier 2 and 3 telcos, many of which will fill in fiber “middle mile” gaps in rural communities.
The Obama administration reports that the investment will create 5,000 construction and installation jobs. The release touts these additional benefits: Read more
USDA Reports On Round 1 Stimulus Awards
Posted by Kevin McGuire on Thursday, June 10, 2010 · ·
Yesterday, the USDA unveiled a report called “Connecting Rural America.” This report provides an overview of round one stimulus awards, and helps identify “… how broadband deployment funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) will improve the quality of life of over half a million rural American households.”
In the first round, RUS awarded just over $1 billion for 68 projects in 31 states. The report suggests that the projects will bring broadband service to an estimated 529,249 households, 92,754 businesses and 3,332 anchor institutions across more than 172,000 square miles. It compares the geographical size of the total projects to the state of California. Additionally, the projects will create about 5,000 immediate and direct jobs.
Other report highlights include: Read more
NTIA Reports $11B in Round 2 Broadband Stimulus Applications
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, April 12, 2010 · ·
NTIA announced last week that it received 867 applications asking for $11 billion in funding in the second round of the agency’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). This is less than half the 1,770 applications the agency received in the first round.
The drop off might be due to change in rules, which prohibit applicants from filing the same project with both NTIA and RUS. Read more