Broadband Stimulus

Cover Story: Strings Attached Small Operators Balk at Special Conditions In Broadband Stimulus Money (Multichannel News, 8/10/09)

 Whatif the government held a $7.2 billion cash giveaway and nobody came? The deadline for the initial round of funding for the $7.2 billion broadband stimulus program is Aug. 14 and early indications are that small cable operators may sit out the program in fairly large numbers. As one long-time small cable-system operator who requested anonymity put it: “There are a lot of strings on that money.”
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The Smart Path to Broadband Mapping (Fighting the Next Good Fight 8/6/09)

 Commentary - A strategy for getting better maps faster, and for a much more reasonable cost than the alternative, Connected Nation. Drew Clark, president of Broadband Census believes any broadband map that's worth its pixels and the price tag has to sufficiently represent SPARC data - Speeds, Prices, Availability, Reliability and Competition. You want to start with a good map of census blocks for your area. Gather data from and about carriers in your proposed service area, keeping in mind you want as much SPARC information as you can pull. This is tedious since the largest carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and Time Warner want to give you as little as possible, while the smaller ones are hard pressed to put enough people and time to the task.
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Obama plans large-scale public works project (Sun Journal 8/9/09)

 President-elect Barack Obama said Saturday he wants to revive the economy through a job-creating public works plan on a scale unseen since the building program of the interstate highway system in the 1950s.As a part of the package, Obama said he wants to expand broadband Internet access in communities. "Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online," he said. Hospitals also should be connected to each through the Internet. He said he wanted to ensure the facilities were using the latest technology and electronic medical records.
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FCC Releases Notice of Inquiry on Broadband Data Collection - Inquiry required by the Broadband Data Improvement Act (Broadcasting & Cable, 8/7/09)

 The FCC Friday put out a notice of inquiry on broadband data collection with the advice to start fresh. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has said decisions in his FCC would be data-driven, the other caveat being it has to be the best data available.
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NTIA Corrects Broadband Mapping Funds - Changes Tied To Details About Availability, Speed, Infrastructure (Multichannel News, 8/9/09)

 The National Telecommunications & Information Administration has made some technical corrections to its notice of funds availability (NOFA) for broadband mapping that paves the way for broadband providers to give up the data. Major broadband providers and trade associations had asked NTIA for the changes, and with them "committed to helping NTIA complete the important and difficult task of mapping broadband availability." The changes related to the level of detail required on availability, speed and infrastructure and the degree of public disclosure.
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Community Broadband

First Phase of Broadband Stimulus Money Might Miss the Mark (PitchEngine.com 8/8/09)

 As the August 14 deadline approaches for applications for the first of three phases of federal broadband stimulus funding, many telecom companies apparently are going for their share of money. But experts say that small businesses, organizations and communities should also aim for a share of that pie.
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We all share Internet, broadband (Bangor Daily News 8/8/09)

 Commentary: Lately there have been numerous discussions and debates centered on corporate control of water and wind, and now our broadband and Internet access is being threatened by out-of-state corporations. But like water, broadband is part of the commons, a set of assets that we all share. The commons encompass three areas — natural, cultural and community. Air, water, ecosystems and the like constitute the natural commons, and our language, laws and traditions are part of the cultural commons. Community commons include the public infrastructure, such as our system of highways, roads and bridges, our right to access education and health care, along with public safety such as police and fire protection. Broadband and Internet access have become an integral part of our public communications infrastructure. They are part of the community commons.
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When Is A Community Fully Served By Broadband? (App-Rising 8/6/09)

 Commentary: One of the hottest topics related to the broadband stimulus is how to define what it means for a community to be underserved. But there's been a huge piece missing from that conversation as we have yet to address the question of: when is a community fully served by broadband? When can we say that a community has enough and doesn't need government intervention to get more connected?  
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