Even though the application deadline is less than a month away, some U.S. carriers say they still haven't made up their minds whether to apply for broadband stimulus grants or loans made possible by the Recovery Act.
The government recently released $4 billion to promote the deployment of wired and wireless broadband in under-served areas of the country. (See Biden Boosts Broadband.) While smaller WiMax operators are eager to get in on the Recovery Act, others are still working through the guidelines to decide if they want -- or can qualify for -- a grant or loan by Aug. 15. (See Recovery Act: A WiMax Windfall.)
"We just don't know yet," a company spokesman tells Unstrung Wednesday. "We're still evaluating the notice that came out at the end of June."
Open Range Communications Inc. , another rural WiMax operator is unsure if it will ask the government for more money. The operator already got a $267 million loan from the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Utilities Program (RDUP) in March 2009 and then secured $100 million in private equity funds to get the loan released. (See Small Wireless Firms Get Set for Recovery Funds.)
"It is unknown whether Open Range will apply for more government funding," a company spokesman tells Unstrung.
There are several factors in the Act that may be holding companies large and small back from applying for broadband grants or loans. For small carriers, the companies must provide matching funds of at least 20 percent toward total eligible project costs. For larger carriers, accepting the money invites scrutiny of their interconnection, nondiscrimination, and network management practices, a headache some operators would prefer to live without.
There was a stimulus announcement in March, too, wasn't there. It was about the department of agriculture, rural development. How does this latest announcement by biden differ? They're both stimulus for rural broadband access.
Given all the concerns around the Broadband Stimulus, I still wonder why we just don't make higher rate broadband connectivity a Universal Service and let the current mechanisms sort it out from there.
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