Another Broadband Stimulus Delay

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration told the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committees it will start awarding grants in February 2010, another slip from the revised timetable of December 2009.

The first round of grants was supposed to be issued in June 2009. All during the year, telecom suppliers who are thought to benefit from the program have been asked about when the funding would show up in company activity. Now we know the answer: not until 2010 and probably 2011.

The delay presumably means grants or loans issued by the Rural Utilities Service might also slip into next year. Both programs have experienced delays, perhaps inevitably, given the huge increase in workload.

The NTIA and the Rural Utilities Service say they have received roughly 2,200 applications for the $4 billion worth of grants available for broadband projects in the United States that is available in the first round of funding.

The applications ask for total of about $28 billion in broadband projects, or seven times the total funds available.

The $4 billion in grants currently available to applicants is just the first part of the $7.2 billion that the government has allotted to fund broadband infrastructure investment over the next two years.

Of that money, $4.7 billion has been given to the NTIA to award grants for projects that will build out broadband infrastructure in un-served or under-served areas; to deliver broadband capabilities for public safety agencies; and to stimulate broadband demand through training and education.

The remaining $2.5 billion in broadband stimulus money has been allotted to the Department of Agriculture to make loans to companies building out broadband infrastructure in rural areas.