NRTC and DigitalBridge make complementary broadband stimulus filings

WiMax pioneer DigitalBridge Communications, which recently won three broadband stimulus grants from the National Telecommunications and Information Agency, applied for funding for a total of 30 projects from the Rural Utilities Service in Round 2 of the broadband stimulus program. And the company could benefit even further if the RUS approves funding for 30 additional projects proposed by the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, an organization of 1500 rural telcos and utilities that is a part owner of DigitalBridge.

Both the NRTC and DigitalBridge applications propose WiMax networks. If successful with its applications, the NRTC would use spectrum leased through DigitalBridge, said Chris Martin, vice president of member and industry relations for the NRTC. “They told us the counties they were interested in and gave our members the opportunity to be part of the application,” Martin said. There is no overlap between the two sets of applications - they are “complementary,” he said.

Digital Bridge doesn’t own a nationwide license, but as Martin explained, the NRTC in Round 2 targeted areas where spectrum would be readily available through DigitalBridge or an organization with which DigitalBridge has a relationship.

Working with Digital Bridge would give NRTC members a greater footprint than each would have alone. “They can be part of a larger ecosystem for mobile,” Martin said, pointing to emerging WiMax applications in smart grid and work force mobility.

In Round 1 of the broadband stimulus program, some NRTC members filed their own applications with the NRTC’s help, but that approach was not successful, Martin said. “The government was looking for some scale and our members’ individual projects may have looked small,” he said.

As a result, explained Martin, “In the second round, we said, ‘Why don’t we become the applicant? It will give us some scale.’”

Rather than file one big application, however, the NRTC filed separate applications by county — a move aimed at preventing all project areas from being rejected if the RUS were to determine that one or more individual counties were ineligible.

If the NRTC wins some applications in Round 2 Martin said the organization, working through the rules, would “look to transfer assets to the members as quickly as we can — it’s not our intention to maintain ownership of the assets forever.”

Martin declined to name the members involved in the Round 2 applications but said they include 13 electric companies and two telcos.

DigitalBridge did not respond to a phone call from ConnectedPlanet.