September 14, 2009

As U.S.MAYOR goes to press, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Assistant Secretary Larry Strickling told the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet that, “Although NTIA and RUS previously indicated that we planned to hold up to three rounds of funding, our review of our experience in this first round, leads us to now explore the option of holding just one more round of funding.” This further highlights the urgency behind the Conference’s request that the U.S. Department of Commerce reconsider the restrictive criteria that requires public safety and anchor institutions meet an underserved or unserved test before being eligible for broadband funding.

At the September 10 oversight hearing of the broadband provisions in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Strickling said this would enable NTIA to complete the entire grant-making process in the summer of 2010, as opposed to next September, afford additional time to receive well-informed views on how the first round worked for applicants, and economize on administrative expenses.

The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) received almost 2,200 applications requesting nearly $28 billion in funding for proposed broadband projects reaching all 50 U.S. states and territories and the District of Columbia.

The Recovery Act provided a total of $7.2 billion to NTIA and RUS to expand access to and adoption of broadband services. Of that funding, NTIA will utilize $4.7 billion to deploy broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas in the United States, expand public computer center capacity, and encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. RUS will invest $2.5 billion to facilitate broadband deployment in primarily rural communities. Approximately $2.4 billion from RUS and up to $1.6 billion from NTIA is available in this first grant round. The deadline for the first round was August 24.

Strickling said NTIA would begin announcing grants this November.