Broadband Stimulus Notes
IBM said it’s making $2 billion in loans available for projects that will be supported by federal stimulus spending. Organizations of all sizes “looking to implement technology projects consisting of a majority portion of IBM hardware, software and technology services components” are invited to apply for the money, the company said. IBM’s lending unit, IBM Global Financing, said the money can go to projects involving health IT, smart grid technologies or increasing broadband access. Applicants for federal broadband money are required to put up at least 20 percent of a project’s capital costs, putting stimulus out of the reach of many start-ups. ----
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FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the RUS has investments of at least $2.78 million, very little of which could cause a conflict of interest or needs divestment, according to our analysis of financial disclosure documents. Adelstein’s largest asset is more than $1 million in common stock of Northwestern Engineering, a North Dakota company Adelstein’s father once ran. Adelstein’s financial disclosure form, as is typical, lists ranges for valuations and our analysis used the lowest figures. Adelstein owns between $1,001 and $15,000 of equities in NBC Universal’s parent company General Electric and has at least $97,000 in municipal bonds. Otherwise, Adelstein, who has served as an FCC commissioner since 2002, is largely free of technology or media company investments. Julius Genachowski, Obama’s nominee to head the FCC, and Larry Strickling, Obama’s nominee to head NTIA, have many technology investments, filings show. Some of their investments may need to be divested or put in blind trusts, said communications lawyers and Campaign Legal Center Policy Director Meredith McGehee. ----
RUS should prioritize small and disadvantaged businesses when giving out federal broadband stimulus money, the Broadband Diversity Supporters told the FCC Wednesday, according to an ex parte filing. The BDS met with acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps and the Wireline, Wireless and Consumer and Governmental Affairs bureaus to discuss federal broadband policy and the doling out of federal broadband funds. The BDS also said NTIA should make funding low-income and minority populations in rural and urban areas a priority to break the “perpetual chain of structural poverty and exclusions.” Also, NTIA and RUS should make sure the states don’t impose cumbersome applicant certifications that could be market barriers to small and minority-owned business. The $250 million set aside by NTIA for adoption programs should be considered “a floor, not a ceiling,” the BDS told the commission. The FCC is consulting with NTIA and RUS as they develop rules how to give out $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus money, and will be responsible for devising a national broadband plan by next September.