rus announces $310 miilion for projects

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY VILSACK ANNOUNCES $310 MILLION IN RECOVERY ACT FUNDS FOR RURAL BROADBAND PROJECTS 
 
  In total, $313.5 million for Middle Mile and Last Mile Projects Will Bring Broadband Service To Rural Customers 
 
  On  January 25, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack  announced the selection of fourteen Recovery Act Broadband Infrastructure projects that will receive $309,923,352 through funding made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. An additional $3,551,887 in private investment brings the total to $313,475,239. Altogether, Congress awarded USDA $2.5 billion in Recovery Act funding to help bring broadband services to rural un-served and underserved communities.
“The Obama Administration will strengthen communities in rural areas through these broadband investments and provide employment opportunities, building a solid foundation for future economic growth,” Vilsack said. “The awards for these broadband projects will support anchor institutions – such as libraries, public buildings and community centers – that are necessary for the viability of rural communities.”

In rural Burleigh County, N.D., for example, the BEK Communications Cooperative has been selected to receive a $2 million grant and $2 million loan with an additional $2 million in leveraged funds. The company will expand the existing system to offer fiber-to-the-premises service to more than 540 homes and anchor institutions that are currently underserved. The existing system provides service to 53 percent of the population in the area, and among the current users, 22 percent derive household income from the Internet. This expansion is expected to stimulate economic growth by bringing on new users.

Funding of individual recipients is contingent upon their meeting the terms of the loan, grant or loan/grant agreement. Below is a complete list of recent Recovery Act Broadband award recipients by state:

Alaska

•Southwestern Alaska, United Utilities, $43,982,240 grant and $44,158,522 loan. The funding will provide middle mile connectivity to 65 communities.
Alabama

•Butler, Butler Telephone Co., Inc., $3,892,920 grant. The funding will provide high speed DSL broadband service to remote, unserved households within its rural service territory. The system is being built so that it can be easily upgraded to accommodate future services.
California

•San Joaquin, Tranquillity, and Fresno, Audeamus, $2,741,505 grant and $2,741,505 loan. The proposed project is a fiber-based broadband infrastructure for the unserved and underserved communities in this service area. A last-mile project, it will provide access to approximately 1,500 households, local businesses and anchor institutions in the communities.
Iowa

•Meriden and Archer, C-M-L Telephone Cooperative Association, $1,519,225 grant and $1,519,225 loan, $1,525,315 in matching funds. Funding will provide services via a fiber optic network to rural communities with high speed internet exceeding 20 Mbps.
•Bennett, Delmar, and Lowden, F & B Communications, Inc., $1,609,162 grant and
•$1,628,588 loan. Funding will provide services via high speed fiber optic network with speeds exceeding 20Mbps. System will allow for expansion at a future date.
•Springbrook, LaMotte Telephone Company, $187,815 grant, and $187,815 loan. The funding will provide services from a 300-foot tower and Wi-Max installation for wireless broadband service in the surrounding area.
Kansas (1% of the network is to be built in Nebraska)

•Western Kansas, Rural Telephone Service Co., Inc., $49,588,807 grant and $51,612,842 loan. Funding will provide service in an area 99.5 percent unserved/underserved and provide a rural infrastructure required for economic stability, education and healthcare. The company is a cooperative and RUS partner on 32 other projects. It leads a team of seven companies with this shovel-ready project.
Tennessee (1% of the network is to be built in Kentucky)

•Northern Tennessee, North Central Telephone Cooperative, Inc., $24,715,709 grant and $24,964,000 loan. The funding will provide the necessary infrastructure to provide advanced voice, video, and data services that exceed 20Mbps to remote and rural communities in the service area.
Louisiana

•Morehouse Parish, Northeast Louisiana Telephone Company, Inc., $4,359,000 grant and $8,124,600 loan. Funding will provide an active Ethernet system with symmetrical speeds of 20 Mbps. The system will be using buried fiber to the premise.
Missouri

•Ralls County, Ralls County Electric Cooperative, $9,548,908 grant and $9,548,909 loan. Funding for this project will provide a fiber optic network to residential and commercial members and the underserved safety and anchor agencies in the service area. This is a State of Missouri demonstration project and non-proprietary data will be shared.
North Dakota

•Burleigh County; BEK Communications Cooperative, $1,986,473 grant and $2,016,571 loan; $2,016,572 in leveraged funds. The funding will provide fiber-to-the-premises broadband service to underserved homes and anchor institutions. This will aid business growth and support public safety in rural areas highly dependent on Internet business income.
•Traill County; Halstad Telephone Company, $2,027,600 grant and $2,027,600 loan; $10,000 in leveraged funds. The funding will provide fiber-to-the premises broadband service to unserved homes and businesses in Traill County.
Oregon

•Marion County, Gervais telephone Company, $314,430 grant and $314,430 loan. This project extends Gervais Telephone Company’s existing fiber network by building out from the nearest fiber splice point through the funded service area. This project will provide broadband connectivity to residential and business end users, as well as to four anchor institutions.
Virginia

•Alleghany County, NTELOS Telephone Inc., $8,062,088 grant and $8,062,088 loan. The funds will provide broadband infrastructure to unserved and underserved homes, businesses and critical community institutions in this rural county. A fiber-based project, it will enable work-from-home jobs and foster economic development, and improve health, education and public safety services to the county citizens.

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2010/01/0032.xml

broadband grants round 2

The second funding window for broadband stimulus applications and two sets of revised eligibility requirements were announced Friday, Jan. 15.

Proposals are due between Feb. 16 and March 15, and awards should be announced by Sept. 30.

Applicants will need to study a new, separate notice of funds available (NOFA) for grants from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and a separate NOFA for money from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), the two federal agencies in charge of disbursing the $7.2 billion set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for broadband projects.

An estimated $4.8 billion remains from the Recovery Act for broadband grants. About $2.4 billion already has been awarded through the first funding window that occurred in December 2009, or was set aside for establishing a national broadband map and administrating the funds. The agencies say separate NOFAs will enable projects to promote the two agencies’ distinct objectives.

Focus on Middle-Mile and Last-Mile
The NTIA will focus its $2.6 billion share on “middle-mile” projects, while the RUS will direct the bulk of its $2.2 billion on “last-mile” initiatives. Middle-mile is a term for fiber backbone networks that cut through broad areas of the country. Last-mile refers to equipment that service providers extend from the backbone to homes and businesses.

“Based on the feedback we received from stakeholders and our own experience in the first funding round, we are making the application process more user-friendly, sharpening our funding focus to make the biggest impact with this investment and streamlining our review process to increase efficiency,” said NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling, in a statement.

The NTIA cautioned that middle-mile projects with a strong “comprehensive community” approach would have an edge for this funding window. The NTIA defines this as connecting key community anchor institutions, such as libraries, hospitals, community colleges, universities and public safety institutions.

Public-private partnerships, driven by vendors but endorsed by governments, are likely the best candidates for meeting those types of stipulations, said Gartner research Vice President Alex Winogradoff in a recent Government Technology interview. “If you have a reasonable public-private relationship in which the government doesn’t become overbearing, those situations work,” Winogradoff said.

In fact, in an attempt to encourage collaboration, earlier this month the Obama administration launched an online matchmaking portal called BroadbandMatch where those with broadband proposals can connect with similar partners.

Agencies seeking funds to expand their public computing facilities can try for the $150 million the NTIA is offering for that purpose during this window. The agency is also setting aside $100 million for initiatives aimed at encouraging broadband usage in communities that are hesitant to it.

The RUS funding announcement called special attention to one simplified NOFA requirement in particular. The first NOFA had two funding options — grants of up to 100 percent in remote rural areas, and 50/50 loan-grant combinations in nonremote rural areas, the agency said in a statement. For the second round, the RUS notice eliminates this distinction and adopts a base 75/25 grant/loan combination for all projects. The RUS says its new approach provides flexibility for seeking a waiver if additional grant resources are needed for areas that are difficult to serve.

Also written into the new RUS notice is a second application review process during which applicants could adjust their proposals to better meet program objectives. The RUS even promises to offer advice to those applicants on how to improve their proposals.

On January 15, the NTIA and RUS announced a series of public workshops to review the application process and answer questions from prospective applicants. The workshops will be held in Portland, Ore.; Reno, Nev.; Denver; San Antonio; Eureka, Mo.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Detroit; Blacksburg, Va.; Fayetteville, N.C.; and Atlanta. Interested parties can register for the workshops at www.broadbandusa.gov.

For more details visit:  http://www.broadbandusa.gov/

white house bb awards= $182 million

 

Background on the Vice President’s Recovery Act Announcement

Vice President Biden will kick off over $2 billion in Recovery Act grants and loans that will be made on a rolling basis over the next 75 days to bring broadband to communities that currently have little or no access to the technology.  At an event at Impulse Manufacturing in Dawsonville, Georgia, he will announce an initial $182 million investment in eighteen broadband projects benefiting seventeen states which has already been matched by over $46 million in private capital.  The awards are not only expected to provide initial job opportunities in infrastructure and manufacturing, but help bridge the digital divide and boost economic development for communities held back by limited or no access to the technology.  Secretaries Locke and Vilsack will also visit communities benefiting from these initial awards in the coming days.

Broadband Impact

The new broadband access will help underserved – and often hard-hit – communities overcome the distance and technology barrier by expanding connectivity between educational institutions, enabling remote medical consultations and attracting new businesses – as well as the jobs that come with them.  With new or enhanced broadband access in their communities, business owners will be able to expand the market for their products beyond their neighborhoods, parents juggling childcare will be able to take college courses online, schools with limited course offerings will be able to expand them through distance learning, medical specialists will be able to provide advanced diagnosis for patients in remote areas or consult with colleagues at other hospitals and entire towns will be able to further develop their economies.

Broadband and the Recovery Act

These broadband awards are what the Recovery Act is all about – not just rescuing the economy by providing immediate job opportunities through shovel-ready projects, but also rebuilding better by laying a new foundation for economic growth in communities across the country.  Along with awards to develop advanced battery technology, a smart energy grid, a nationwide health IT network, a high speed rail infrastructure and more, they represent an over $100 billion dollar investment in science, innovation and technology to lay that new foundation and keep American competitive in the 21st century.

The grants and loans are part of an overall $7.2 billion investment the Recovery Act makes in bringing broadband access to underserved communities – $4.7 million through the Commerce Department and $2.5 billion funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Types of Awards

There are four types of awards being made on Thursday:

• Middle Mile Awards – Build and improve connections to communities lacking sufficient broadband access
•  Last Mile Awards – Connect end users like homes, hospitals and schools to their community’s broadband infrastructure (the middle mile).
•  Public Computing – Expand computer center capacity for public use in libraries, community colleges and other public venues.Sustainable Adoption – Fund innovative projects that promote broadband demand.National Economic Council Report on Broadband and Economic DevelopmentThe National Economic Council has produced a report on how Recovery Act investments in broadband will leverage federal dollars to expand broadband access and adoption across the nation.  Key findings include:·  High-speed links to communities.  The report explains the focus of Recovery Act investments in the “middle-mile” networks that connect entire communities to the Internet backbone.  By building and improving middle-mile connections, Recovery Act awards will bring down the cost of private investment and attract Internet service providers to new areas, maximizing the value of federal investment. 

  ·  Public computer centers and digital literacy.  Recovery Act investments will promote digital literacy among the new generation of students and workers through improved connections and networking at key community institutions, including public computer centers in urban and suburban areas.

  ·  Connect rural homes and businesses.  In highly rural areas of the country, Recovery Act awards will help build connections to homes and businesses to enable unprecedented opportunities in employment, education, and entrepreneurship. 

  ·  Create jobs and promote economic development.  The report finds that Recovery Act investments in broadband will create tens of thousands of jobs in the near term and expand opportunities and economic development in communities that would otherwise be left behind in the new knowledge-based economy.

  Impulse Manufacturing in Dawsonville, GA

  The Vice President will make the announcement at Impulse Manufacturing in Dawsonville, GA.  Impulse Manufacturing is a 150-employee precision metal fabrication company serving a variety of industries around the world.  The company would like to expand its services, but does not feel like it can do so until issues with insufficient and unreliable broadband capability are resolved.  They note that when customers send them CAD files electronically, their emails often bounce back, and their programming department often cannot download the larger files.  Without significant improvements in broadband capability, this company may have to relocate out of this fiber-poor region to keep its customers. 

  North Georgia Network Cooperative

  Dawsonville is part of an entire northern Georgia region that stands to benefit from a $33 million award the Vice President will announce on Thursday for the North Georgia Network Cooperative, Inc.  The funding will bring sufficient broadband access to the same rural Georgia foothill communities that in the early 1960s benefited from significant investments by President Kennedy’s Appalachian Regional Commission.  ARC investments at the time brought a new job-producing textile and manufacturing base to these counties, including Union, Towns, Rabun, Habersham, White, Lumpkin, Dawson and Forsyth.  Now, almost 50 years later, the region is facing serious economic challenges as manufacturing jobs are cut and factories shuttered, and is looking to reinvent itself once again by building a technology-based economy – which is heavily dependent on broadband access.  The proposed project will benefit an eight county area with an estimated population of more than 334,000 people and pass through 146 county government facilities, 82 public schools, 7 technical institutions, colleges and universities and 4 hospitals. 

  Secretaries Locke and Vilsack

  Tomorrow, Secretary Locke will visit the University of Maine in Orono to discuss a broadband award that will benefit rural and disadvantaged portions of the state.  On Tuesday, Secretary Vilsack will travel to Ohio to discuss how a broadband award will help boost economic development in the region and connect the local community to the smart energy grid.

•  http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/background-vice-presidents-recovery-act-announcement

partner match for bb grants

Tool matches partners for broadband grants

The two federal agencies charged with handing out $7.2 billion in grants to spur broadband access and adoption launched a new online tool Thursday aimed at helping those interested in applying for the broadband grants to find potential partners. BroadbandMatch was created by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service to assist those who may want to seek out partnerships in an effort to improve their expertise and chances of obtaining one of the broadband grants.

The new tool allows any company, nonprofit, state or local government or individual interested in apply for a broadband grant through NTIA or RUS to post a profile with information about what they would bring to a grant proposal application. It also allows those seeking a partner to search criteria to find an entity that matches their needs. “In the first funding round, many applicants wanted to form partnerships but didn’t know how best to locate other organizations with similar aims and complementary resources,” NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling said in a statement, adding that the new online tool is aimed at addressing this need.

In the coming weeks, RUS and NTIA will be announcing the rules for the second and last round of broadband funding, which was included in the economic stimulus package passed last year.

Visit the site at: http://match.broadbandusa.gov/BTOPpartners/BPMhome.aspx