About $6.5 Billion in Broadband Spending Still in S.1

The 778-page Senate version of the "stimulus" bill apparently calls for about $6.5 billion in tax credits for supplying broadband to rural or "under-served" areas. It is not yet clear what will happen when the Senate version of the bill is reconciled with the House version.

The House version includes more specific references to broadband speeds, while the Senate version deletes those references.

Earlier versions of the Senate bill had talked about providing tax credits for building new capacity in rural and underserved areas would be as much as 40 percent, but only for service operating at 100 Mbps or faster.

A 30-percent credit would be offered for service operating at 5 Mbps or better. The bill also seems to allow 40-percent credits for wireless service operating at 6 Mbps or better downstream and 30 percent tax credits for wireless service of 3 megabits per second or better.

It does not appear that those clauses remain relevant in the new revised Senate "stimulus" bill, and reconciliation with the House bill might reinsert them in some way.

The revised language could be quite important, though, as many investors might balk at the notion of building 100 Mbps service as a prerequisite for getting loans under the broadband program, which in the revised Senate version also would operate under National Telecommunications And Information Administration oversight, not shared with the Agriculture Department as in the House version.

What a chore it has been to read the revised bill, and the original bill before it!