Broadband Grant Program Draws 2,200 Applicants
Nearly 2,200 entities filed applications requesting about $28 billion in the first round of broadband stimulus grants and loans, NTIA and RUS said Thursday. About 1,490 applications were filed for infrastructure grant and loan requests for $23.2 billion in proposed projects. A smaller pool of applicants, 680, filed proposals for $4.4 billion to be spent on programs to stimulate demand and support public computer centers. Administration officials said they were pleased with the level of interest. Last filings for this first of three grant rounds were due Monday.
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“We are very excited to be working at this level,” said NTIA Chief of Staff Tom Power. “We hope to have the problem of making some tough choices among some very qualified applicants” when final decisions are made for the first-round grants, targeted to begin early November, he said. RUS Chief of Staff Lisa Zainer agreed. The agencies worked closely together coordinating the grant processing, she said. “We have learned a lot from each other.” Both officials said initial online filing bottlenecks (CD Aug 14 p13), which prompted a one-week extension, were resolved with addition of servers. Agencies said the capacity problem was monitored on an hourly, day-by-day basis to ensure applicants could get their paperwork filed.
Free Press is pleased with the level of participation, though large incumbent phone and cable companies “do not appear to have applied,” said Policy Director Ben Scott. The agencies did not release any information on companies that applied. “This response to just the first round of grants demonstrates the substantial interest in bringing broadband to all Americans,” Scott said. Further, the level of demand “has discredited complaints that interest in this grant program would be hurt by the nature of a public service/private enterprise partnership. The NTIA can now settle into the task of dispensing infrastructure grants to the best applicants with the goal of maximizing the utility of our public service broadband networks.”
When including about $10.5 billion in matching funds committed by the applicants, there are over $38 billion in proposed broadband projects, said a joint agency news release. Applicants included state, local and tribal governments, nonprofits, libraries, learning institutions and public safety. “Applicants requested nearly seven times the amount of funding available, which demonstrates the substantial interest in expanding broadband across the Nation,” said NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling.
“We will move quickly but carefully to fund the best projects to bring broadband and jobs to more Americans,” said Strickling. RUS Director Jonathan Adelstein said the Obama administration’s goal is “to target funds to serve areas of greatest need.” He hopes to leverage private investment with the $2.5 billion allocated to RUS “to deliver the greatest bang for the taxpayers’ buck.” The two agencies were given $7.2 billion for the broadband grant and loan program.
It’s too soon to know whether any of the 2,200 applications have to be kicked back because of missing or erroneous information, officials said. Some entities requested waivers on certain points, while working to resolve outstanding issues, but the agencies didn’t have a tally on how many of those cases existed. It also is too soon to judge whether entities were able to file on their own or had to seek professional help to deal with the forms. NTIA and RUS said they've brought on extra temporary help and contractors to attend to the applications. More will be added if needed, the agencies said.