Feds offer tips on how to get broadband stimulus

Officials from the FCC, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) fielded questions from a packed house at the Department of Commerce office in Washington DC today to try to shed more light on how those organizations will distribute about $7.2 billion in recently authorized broadband stimulus funds.

Although many questions remain unanswered – representatives both organizations repeated that more specific information will come after they have reviewed public suggestions – officials did offer some insight and advice to those hoping to secure some of the funds allocated for expanding broadband availability.

HOW MUCH GOES WHERE

One of the primary determinants in how federal stimulus funds will be distributed is the stipulation within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that the government must approve at least one grant in each state, in addition to the District of Columbia and some US territories.

“If you do the simple math, that's not a lot of money per state, but that's not an impediment, that's a challenge,” said Mark Seifert, a senior advisor to the Obama administration that is leading the NTIA’s broadband stimulus efforts.

In fact, with more than $7 billion to spend in total, the simple math suggests an average of less than $140 million per state. But the money won’t be distributed across the states in equal amounts.

In addition, the USDA, through its Rural Utilities Service division, intends to use some portion of its budget toward securing loans for additional funding. “So we're hoping that we will be able to leverage those resources to deliver substantially more than the $2 billion that we have been given by the president,” said David Villano, the USDA’s assistant administrator for communications. 

Of its roughly $4.7 billion, the NTIA said it may spend up to $350 million on broadband mapping and planning, “at least” $200 million on public computer access and “at least” $250 million on programs to encourage broadband adoption.

Some jobs may be created or sustained just to oversee the administration of the act itself. The legislation provides $10 million to the NTIA for auditing and overseeing how funds are distributed, and the organization said it will contract out some of that work as well as add staff to accomplish those tasks. NTIA said today its oversight outsourcing efforts would probably resemble that already used with the Public Safety Interoperable Communications grant program, or PSIC.

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