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How will broadband affect burgeoning controversies over health care? The answers to this question and more came courtesy of a Broadband Cenus-hosted, hour-long panel discussion. View a video of the discussion.
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President Obama on Innovation and Sustainable Growth. President Barack Obama has new plans to strengthen the economy that will all favor people with hi-tech educations.
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Elevate Miami, a comprehensive Digital Inclusion program launched by the city of Miami, aims to serve youth, low-income families, minorities, seniors and residents facing barriers to digital inclusion.
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The Knight Center of Digital Excellence held its first Stimulus Webcast Session for Knight communities and program directors July 23. Watch it online now.
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By pushing hard on broadband, lawmakers hope to close the "digital divide" that has long separated rural America. In doing so, they hope to give rural consumers access to the same sorts of high-speed services and opportunities - think telemedicine, distance-learning and Web-based commerce - that city dwellers have enjoyed for years.
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Posts Tagged ‘broadband grants’
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Organizations holding their breath in anticipation of hearing whether their first-round broadband stimulus applications were successful might want to take a break – NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling recently said the announcement of broadband bid winners will be delayed by at least “a few more weeks … to get this right.”
Saying he “will not fund a bad application,” Strickling shot down the original agency-imposed award deadline of early November during a Senate Commerce Committee’s Communications Subcommittee oversight hearing on the NTIA/RUS stimulus grant and loan program. RUS administrator Jonathan Adelstein and Mark Goldstein, of the Government Accountability Office, also spoke.
At the Knight Center of Digital Excellence, we feel the delay could be a good move.
A large initial concern was the lack of time states would have to sort through numerous applications, especially given hang-ups in the application process that pushed the due date back. A possible scenario discussed was that states would compensate for the crunch by simply picking their favorite (or most lobbied) programs, or only recommending the state-sponsored applications they knew. There was also the fear that the NTIA and RUS would then take the state recommendations without thorough review since their own volunteer processes weren’t working as smoothly or quickly as originally thought and time was quickly running out on their end as well.
The announcement demonstrates both agencies want their evaluation process to be handled correctly, delayed or not. Again, as Strickling stated, he “will not find a bad application.” To rely on the hurried responses from states, many of which did not have the resources to be as thorough as necessary, may have resulted in funding a number of applications that, in the long run, may not have been the best use of stimulus dollars.
Tags: American Recovery & Reinvestment Act 2009, BIP, broadband, Broadband Expansion, broadband grants, Broadband Initiatives Program, Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, BTOP, Commerce Committee, Communications Subcommittee, Congress, Government Accountability Office, infrastructure, Internet, Jonathan Adelstein, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, Larry Strickling, Mark Goldstein, network, NTIA, RUS, Senate, stimulus, stimulus funding request, stimulus watch
Posted in ARRA, NTIA, RUS, Stimulus Package | No Comments »
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
The numbers are in: 2,200 applications are requesting $27.6 billion in first round broadband stimulus funding.
The problem: There’s only $4.3 billion available.
Welcome to the competition.
According to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), applications were submitted by a diverse range of applicants, including state, local and tribal governments; nonprofit organizations; industry; anchor institutions, such as libraries, universities, community colleges and hospitals; public safety organizations; and other entities in rural, suburban and urban areas.
While the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provided a total of $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus funding, approximately $2.4 billion from RUS and up to $1.6 billion from NTIA is available in this first grant round.
According to a preliminary analysis of applicant-reported data, the applications break down as follows:
Infrastructure
• More than 260 applications were filed solely with NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), requesting over $5.4 billion in grants to fund broadband infrastructure projects in unserved and underserved areas.
• More than 400 applications were filed solely with RUS’s Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP), requesting nearly $5 billion in grants and loans for broadband infrastructure projects in rural areas.
• More than 830 applications were both BTOP and BIP filings that requesting nearly $12.8 billion in infrastructure funding. (Applicants for infrastructure projects in rural areas had to apply for BIP funding, but were given the opportunity to jointly apply to BTOP in case the RUS declines to fund their application.)
Sustainable Broadband Adoption
• More than 320 applications were filed with NTIA requesting nearly $2.5 billion in grants from BTOP for projects that promote sustainable demand for broadband services. (The ARRA directs NTIA to make at least $250 million available for programs that encourage sustainable adoption of broadband services. Up to $150 million is allocated in the first round.)
Public Computer Centers
• More than 360 applications were filed with NTIA requesting more than $1.9 billion in grants from BTOP for public computer center projects, which will expand access to broadband service and enhance broadband capacity at public libraries, community colleges and other institutions (The ARRA directs NTIA to make at least $200 million available for expanding public computer center capacity. Up to $50 million is allocated in the first round.)
Keep in mind the numbers released today represent applicants’ self-reported totals from proposals submitted before the Aug. 20 deadline. Both organizations said these results are preliminary estimates and may change as the applications are reviewed for errors, omissions and duplicates. Both organizations said they would post a searchable database containing summaries of all applications received within a few weeks.
However, the numbers clearly show the demand for broadband expansion across the country. And both organizations seem committed to getting the money necessary for this expansion in the hands of applicants as quickly (and as carefully) as possible.
Read the Knight Center of Digital Excellence’s, “Back to your corners; Round one is over,” for information on some upcoming dates as they relate to BTOP funding.
Tags: American Recovery & Reinvestment Act 2009, ARRA, BIP, broadband, Broadband Expansion, broadband grants, Broadband Initiatives Program, Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, BTOP, KCoDE, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, NTIA, rural communities, Rural Utilities Service, RUS, stimulus, stimulus application, stimulus watch, underserved, unserved
Posted in ARRA, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, NTIA, RUS, Stimulus Package | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
 Mark Ansboury at the NTIA meeting Tuesday morning.
Today is an important day for the Broadband Initiative in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Both Karen Archer Perry and I started the morning waiting in lines that began forming at 8:00 A.M. for the 10:00 A.M. meeting.
The morning’s agenda included remarks from Anna Gomez, Acting Administrator, NTIA, Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, Michael J. Copps, Acting Chairman, FCC, and Mark Siefert, Senior Advisor, NTIA.
Mr. Copps shared his viewpoint that creating a central infrastructure is the greatest challenge of our time. The U.S. has fallen behind in national rankings and Copps says we need to provide value laden, high-speed broadband to all of our citizens – stressing that ALL means EVERYONE. Some of the areas Copps focused on where smart grids, higher education, more efficient agriculture, better housing and public safety.
The group was also informed of the Broadband Initiative statutory requirements and timelines by Dr. Bernadette Mc Guire-Rivera, Associate Administrator, NTIA; David Villano, Assistant Administrator for Telecommunications Programs, USDA Rural Development and Scott M. Deutchman, Acting Senior Legal Advisor to Acting Chairman Copps, FCC.
Dr. McGuire-Rivera began the instruction for the statutory requirements and timelines by sharing the breakdown of the grant opportunities including 350 million for mapping, 200 million on public computer centers, 250 million for programs encouraging sustainable broadband use, 10 million for audits and oversights, and 141 million for administration. She also focused on the fact that projects must be in process by Sept. 30, 2009, and completed within two years. More coming…
Mark T. Ansboury is chief technology officer of the Knight Center of Digital Excellence.
Tags: American Recovery & Reinvestment Act 2009, Anna Gomez, broadband, broadband grants, David Vilano, Dr. Bernadette McGuire-Rivera, efficient agriculture, FCC, higher education, housing, Karen Archer Perry, KCoDE, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, Mark Ansboury, Mark Siefert, Michael J. Copps, NTIA, OneCommunity, public safety, Schott M. Deutchman, Secretary of Agriculture, smart grids, stimulus, Tom Vilsack, USDA
Posted in Digital news, Knight Center, NTIA, Stimulus Package | No Comments »
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