COMMUNITIES
TMCnews Featured Article
February 09, 2010
Government Internet 'Stimulus' Funds Mired in Morass
By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor
The Obama administration included $7.2 billion for high-speed Internet projects in last year’s huge economic pork package.
According to Yankee Group (News - Alert)‘s research, the current $7.2 billion earmarked for extending broadband service across the U.S. is “woefully inadequate,” reaching “less than a third of the investment necessary to connect every U.S. household.”
The group’s report, titled “Ubiquitous U.S. Broadband Will Cost At Least Triple the Current Stimulus Package,” analyzes several scenarios and finds that “even the most bare-bones approach to extending broadband across the country will require funding -- and vendor cooperation -- far beyond what we see today.”
Which leads to the conclusion that maybe massive, inefficient and inherently wasteful government projects aren’t the way to get the job done.
The goal, as USAToday reported, it was to quickly create tens of thousands of jobs and connect millions of poor and rural communities to broadband. Sounds noble, but “officials had no idea that the demand for the cash would be so overwhelming.”
That they were so unprepared for a large amount of interest in $7.2 billion worth of free gravy is both unbelievable and believable, if you see what we mean.
Anyway the program’s a mess – after nearly a year, about seven percent of the funds has been assigned to specific projects, USAToday said. Funding authorization ends at the end of September. Spending that money quickly but responsibly is like “trying to use a fire hose with a garden hose nozzle,” said Craig Settles, an independent consultant who helps companies develop broadband strategies.
To try to salvage something the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service announced last month they were changing how applicants apply for federal broadband stimulus money.
There’s $4.8 billion available as grants and loads “as part of the second round of broadband stimulus funding,” according to industry observer Maisie Ramsay (News - Alert). Few are optimistic that it will be spent well, if at all.
According to Yankee Group (News - Alert)‘s research, the current $7.2 billion earmarked for extending broadband service across the U.S. is “woefully inadequate,” reaching “less than a third of the investment necessary to connect every U.S. household.”
The group’s report, titled “Ubiquitous U.S. Broadband Will Cost At Least Triple the Current Stimulus Package,” analyzes several scenarios and finds that “even the most bare-bones approach to extending broadband across the country will require funding -- and vendor cooperation -- far beyond what we see today.”
Which leads to the conclusion that maybe massive, inefficient and inherently wasteful government projects aren’t the way to get the job done.
The goal, as USAToday reported, it was to quickly create tens of thousands of jobs and connect millions of poor and rural communities to broadband. Sounds noble, but “officials had no idea that the demand for the cash would be so overwhelming.”
That they were so unprepared for a large amount of interest in $7.2 billion worth of free gravy is both unbelievable and believable, if you see what we mean.
Anyway the program’s a mess – after nearly a year, about seven percent of the funds has been assigned to specific projects, USAToday said. Funding authorization ends at the end of September. Spending that money quickly but responsibly is like “trying to use a fire hose with a garden hose nozzle,” said Craig Settles, an independent consultant who helps companies develop broadband strategies.
To try to salvage something the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service announced last month they were changing how applicants apply for federal broadband stimulus money.
There’s $4.8 billion available as grants and loads “as part of the second round of broadband stimulus funding,” according to industry observer Maisie Ramsay (News - Alert). Few are optimistic that it will be spent well, if at all.
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.
Edited by Kelly McGuire
