This Just In: Initial BTOP Awards Announced

It was only July, but it seems like eons ago that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) issued a joint Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) regarding the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). We learned that roughly $2 billion would be available under the first NOFA to “support the deployment of broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas, to enhance broadband capacity at public computer centers, and to encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service.” We also heard that this funding would undergird the objectives of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to stimulate economic growth and create jobs.

From that point, the race was on with organizations and ventures nationwide to complete their funding applications by the August deadline. Since that time, some 2,200 applicants across the nation have anxiously awaited award decisions. For some applicants the wait ended on December 17, as Vice President Joe Biden announced $182.7 million in BTOP awards that will be matched by $46 million in private capital. The Impulse Manufacturing facility in rural Dawsonville, Georgia served as the backdrop for the announcement. The technologically-advanced company, which specializes in metal fabrication, has reportedly felt stymied by a lack of true broadband.

Biden’s announcement encompassed 18 projects in 17 states, and the White House.gov Web site shows a full list of awards that were given for the following project categories:

Middle Mile Awards – $121.6 million to build and improve connections to communities lacking sufficient broadband access.

Last Mile Awards – $51.4 million to connect end users like homes, hospitals and schools to their community’s broadband infrastructure (the middle mile).

Public Computing – $7.3 million to expand computer center capacity for public use in libraries, community colleges and other public venues.

Sustainable Adoption – $2.4 million to fund innovative projects that promote broadband demand with population groups where the technology has traditionally been underutilized.

Alaska was among the initial states to receive BTOP funding for a project that will bring the first broadband services to southwestern native Alaskan communities. Other states benefitting from Biden’s announcement include: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Washington. Over the next 75 days, there will additional BTOP award announcements. So…as they say, stay tuned.

Lacking broadband infrastructure in N.C. - Piedmont Comm. College, Caswell County

Lionell Parker, librarian at Piedmont Community College in Yanceyville, Caswell County, shares his story about the challenges of life without broadband at a public meeting about poor Internet access in North Carolina.

Hurricane season is here - do you have a communications plan?

Tropical Storm Fay is the first storm of the season to even flirt with the idea of dumping some weather on North Carolina. With everything that Florida and the Gulf have suffered through for the last few years, you have to wonder if in the give-and-take of Atlantic Hurricane Seasons, it is the Carolinas' "turn" to get it.

So - since we've had a relatively long stretch of hurricane-free years - the forthcoming (potential) arrival of Fay makes us think about emergency communication plans. Stocking up. Boarding up. Heading out of dodge, if need be.

The Home Safety Council recently reported that only 30 percent of households have discussed and created an emergency communications plan - specifically outlining how families would stay connected in the case of a major weather or disaster event. And this topic is so intimately tied to technology these days because of our collective dependence on linkage with each other though mediums like Internet access and cell/mobile coverage. It may sound like a stretch, but this is a truly great example of how Internet connectivity has infiltrated every portion of modern society.

Economy in the pooper = Internet subscriptions expendable?

We have wondered when or if the lagging economy would translate into fewer new Internet subscription requests (or rather, people electing to terminate that service). With gas and food prices what they are, times are tight and many people are having to think more strategically about what expenses are truly necessary. It’s definitely a tough call. Imagine being a small business and trying to make that decision? Or the parent of a high school-aged student?

An article in Telephony Online this week pointed out that AT&T cited a decline in home-based wire line Internet subscriptions when discussing its third-quarter earnings. AT&T Chief Financial Officer Rick Lindner mentions that the lost customers are “indicating they are not going to a competitor” and that many of these lost subscribers are trying to save costs by using their work/office-based Internet services instead of having that availability at home.

As Ed Gibbons from Telephony Online points out, “If these people have office Internet connections, they likely don’t have blue collars; they’re not bus drivers or waiters. They’re white-collar workers who would rather fill up their gas tanks than their phone lines. The irony, of course, is that if they were able to keep their broadband connections and work from home, they would likely reap much larger savings by not buying the gas needed to drive to and from work each day.”

As others have pointed out, stressful or uncertain economic times tend to quickly illustrate the value (or lack thereof) that consumers place on any given product – gas, disposable diapers, new sneakers, name-brand macaroni-and-cheese, to name a few. This draws into question something that contradicts much of the e-NC Authority’s cause…the profound economic value of broadband connectivity.