TMCnews Featured Article

The first round of applications for over $7 billion in broadband stimulus funding is due Aug. 14, 2009, and the initiative already is starting to "feel" like the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and VoIP.

 

A burst of initial wild optimism on the part of "small guys" that they could become "big guys" is followed by dashing of those hopes by the realities of a scale-based business that doesn't favor too many "big guys."

 

The difference this time around is that lots of entities seem to be thinking there is a pot of gold they can tap into, despite a rather clear legislative intent to spur jobs in the short term by fostering broadband access projects with a significant focus on users who do not have any access, or have inadequate access.

 

“After the first round, there will be a lot of surprise and disappointment,” Casey Lide, Baller Herbst Law Group principal, has suggested.

 

Tony Tortorice, Washington state’s chief information officer also noted “there’s a lot of disappointment around in cities, for instance."

 

"They had a lot of big plans for this, but the requirements were so heavily focused basically on rural areas that they felt they were cut out of the process,” Tortorice says.

 

Odd, isn't it? People complain that broadband isn't being bought by as many people as should buy it. People complain about locations with no wired access at all. Yet the only segment of the citizenry one arguably can find agreement about in that regard is isolated rural areas.

 

As most metro areas have multiple wired, satellite and wireless providers, shouldn't serving the "un-served and underserved" be the point. Well, not necessarily.

 

“There is a perception that the first round focuses too much on un-served and underserved markets,” Mr. Lide says For many Baller Herbst clients, the “hope for second round is that it will be more friendly to local governments and municipalities.”

 

But some warn that the complexity of the application process will result in fewer government applications than one might suppose. The difficulty of completing projects within the mandated timeframe also is an issue, as is the state of actual end user demand for broadband services, says Jeff Arnold, National Association of Counties deputy director.

 

At any rate, it is odd in the extreme to hear local government officials complain that too much emphasis has been placed on "unserved and underserved" areas. Isn't that the whole point?