Posted on 08/30/2009 4:59:36 PM PDT by Cindy
SNIPPET: "When including about $10.5 billion in matching funds committed by the applicants, the total price tag for the proposed broadband projects topped $38 billion.
The Recovery Act provided a total of $7.2 billion to the two agencies to expand broadband services, of which NTIA will use $4.7 billion, largely to deploy broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas, and RUS will invest $2.5 billion to facilitate broadband deployment in primarily rural communities. Approximately $2.4 billion from RUS and up to $1.6 billion from NTIA is available in this first grant round."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacramento.bizjournals.com ...
http://www.stimulatingbroadband.com
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2289954/posts
Previously...
http://www.stimulatingbroadband.com/2009/07/volunteer-review-plan-for-first.html
Thursday, July 9, 2009
“Volunteer Review Plan for First Broadband Stimulus Applications Ignites Firestorm”
SNIPPET: “StimulatingBroadband.com 07/09/09 A federal agency proposal to use volunteer reviewers to make approval and denial decisions on the first round of approximately $ 1.6 billion in Recovery Act broadband stimulus competitive grant applications has set-off a firestorm of protest.
The program, first announced online on Monday, July 6, is being launched by the National Information and Telecommunications Administration (NTIA), of the US Department of Commerce. A description of the volunteer reviewer solicitation program was posted at: Call for Reviewers Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, part of the joint federal agency site BroadbandUSA.gov.
NTIA states in the Call that the agency “...is soliciting volunteers to serve as panelists to evaluate grant proposals for the $4.7 billion Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), an important part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.”
Criticism from the Floor”
Re: “RUS”
ON THE INTERNET:
http://www.usda.gov/rus/telecom/
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Previously...
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2009/07/0276.xml
Release No. 0276.09
Contact:
VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN LAUNCHES INITIATIVE TO BRING BROADBAND, JOBS TO MORE AMERICANS
Announces Availability Of The $4 Billion In Recovery Act Loans And Grants To Increase Broadband Access And Adoption
WATTSBURG, Pa., July 1, 2009 – Vice President Biden today announced the availability of $4 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act loans and grants to help bring broadband service to un-served and underserved communities across America. This is the first round of Recovery Act funding aimed at expanding broadband access to help bridge the technological divide and create jobs building out Internet infrastructure.
Vice President Biden was joined today by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper at Seneca High School, the first stop on the President’s National Rural Tour.
“Today’s announcement is a first step toward realizing President Obama’s vision of a nationwide 21st-century communications infrastructure – one that encourages economic growth, enhances America’s global competitiveness and helps address many of America’s most pressing challenges,” said Vice President Biden.
The Recovery Act provided a total of $7.2 billion to the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to accelerate broadband deployment in areas of the country that have been without the high-speed infrastructure. Of that funding, NTIA will utilize $4.7 billion to deploy broadband infrastructure in un-served and underserved areas in the United States, expand public computer center capacity and encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. RUS will invest $2.5 billion to facilitate broadband deployment in rural communities.
“The Department of Agriculture’s Broadband Initiatives Program will bring high-speed Internet service to communities across the country, create thousands of jobs, and improve economic, healthcare, and educational opportunities available in rural communities,” Vilsack said. “This funding is a down payment on the President’s commitment to bring the educational and economic benefits of the internet to all communities.”
“The Commerce Department’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program will reach the last frontiers of America’s information landscape, and the investments it makes in inner-city neighborhoods and rural communities will spur innovation and pave the way for private capital to follow,” Secretary Locke said. “This first wave of funding will help create jobs, jumpstart additional investment and provide model projects that can better inform our national broadband strategy.”
“Access to high-speed Internet is no longer a luxury, but an essential tool to compete in this 21st-century economy. The availability of this technology is critical to attracting the business and development that will create the good paying jobs that stay in the United States,” said Congresswoman Dahlkemper. “I am so pleased that Vice President Biden and the administration chose Western Pennsylvania to announce this critical broadband initiative - a region that will benefit from this strategic investment.”
NTIA and RUS will be accepting applications for loans, grants and loan/grant combinations to be awarded by each agency under a single application form. This collaborative approach will ensure that the agencies’ activities are complementary and integrated, make the best use of taxpayer funds and make it easier for applicants to apply for funding. This is the first of three rounds of funding the Agriculture and Commerce Departments will provide.
Vice President Biden also announced today that Commerce and USDA officials will host public workshops in July to share information about the funding availabilities and the application process. Forums will be held in Boston, Mass.; Charleston, W.Va.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Memphis, Tenn.; Lonoke, Ark.; Birmingham, Ala.; Billings, Mont.; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Los Angeles, Calif.
Applications will be accepted beginning July 14, 2009, through 5:00 p.m. EDT on August 14, 2009. The complete details of this Notice of Funding Availability are available at www.broadbandusa.gov .
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. It is designed to jumpstart the nation’s economy, create or save millions of jobs, and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the 21st century. The act includes measures to modernize our nation’s infrastructure, enhance energy independence, expand educational opportunities, preserve and improve affordable health care, provide tax relief and protect those in greatest need.
More information about efforts regarding the Recovery Act is available at www.usda.gov/recovery , www.commerce.gov/recovery and www.recovery.gov .
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Last Modified: 07/01/2009
The upshot: Billions of dollars which MIGHT have been spent otherwise, and helped the economy to recover, has instead been sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see how much can be acquired in matching funds from Uncle Sugar. Companies which should have been sold, liquidated or restructured, have instead been kept on life support, awaiting the infusion of government largess. Most of these companies will probably collapse anyway, or do so after the brief two-year porkulus spending bubble.
Much of the broadband infrastructure that will be added -- whenever, if ever, all the red tape is finally dealt with, a year or three down the line -- will be uneconomical, only built because the federal money makes it so, and more productive broadband infrastructure development will be crowded out.
Just a small sample of the broader anti-growth tendencies and inefficient capital allocation distortions brought to your once prosperous economy by Porkulus.
But, but, but the stimulus projects were all shovel ready. Seriously.
This is a disgusting waste of money. Our community already has cable, dsl companies and isp providers and they are trying to get 40 million from the feds. It has nothing to do with getting poor people access. It would be cheaper to just pay their cable bill..
cable access is not always the best.
It is fine in our town..
Back when the Internet stock bubble was going on, many miles of fiber optic cable were laid at investor expense, not the government. It was mostly long distance cable links and duplication of routes became a problem. Many lines went dark as unneeded when the bubble broke.
This government money for cable seems to be for rural areas, but the definition may be guided by political pressure. Rural lines are expensive to lay as the customers per mile are few. I’d like to see the fiber optic expansion done in urban suburbs and peripheries as well as rural to get more customers per mile.
Fiber optic makes cable Internet and TV faster and land line telephone faster as well.
I think they no longer want the rural areas “internetted”.
Think of this, in urban areas where bribery and corruption and union thuggery is stongest, this stimulus money will go to feed local politicians and the new commisars (oops czars)
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