Aspen Wireless News & Updates

In a report to Congress, the NTIA said Wednesday that it won’t conclude doling out the first round of broadband stimulus funding until February 2010.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration clarified in its third quarterly progress report to Congress this week that it will be dolling out the entirety of the grant money during the next ten months.

The year 2010 is going to be a busy time for the period for both the NTIA and the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities is the other agency, the two government entities charged with distributing $7.2 billion of federal funding.

“NTIA will not conclude the first round of BTOP funding at the end of 2009 as originally targeted, but is on course to do so in February 2010,” states the report (PDF).

NTIA and RUS announced this month that they will limit the remaining grant awards to one more round of funding, which they write in the report “will begin early in 2010.”

Courtesy of BroadbandCensus.com

UPDATE: Thursday, August 13, 2009

The application closing deadline for the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) is extended until 5 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on August 20, 2009, for any electronic applications pending as of 5 p.m. ET on August 14, 2009.

There are no changes to the filing instructions for paper applications. For more information see Federal Register Notice: Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) Extension of Application Closing Deadline for Pending Electronic Applications.

The Notice is being provided for informational purposes only. If there is any difference between this document and the Notice officially published in the Federal Register, the Federal Register Notice is controlling.

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/frnotices/2009/FR_BroadbandExtension_090813.pdf

FROM THE OFFICIAL RELEASE:

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Utilities Service

RIN 0572-ZA01

Broadband Initiatives Program

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

RIN 0660-ZA28

Broadband Technology Opportunities Program

AGENCIES: Rural Utilities Service (RUS), Department of Agriculture, and National

Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Funds Availability; extension of application closing deadline for pending

electronic applications.

SUMMARY: RUS and NTIA announce that the application closing deadline for the Broadband

Initiatives Program (BIP) and the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) is

extended until 5 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on August 20, 2009, for any electronic applications

pending as of 5 p.m. ET on August 14, 2009.   There are no changes to the filing instructions for

paper applications.

DATES: An applicant that is submitting an application for the BIP and BTOP electronically

will be permitted to complete electronic submission of its application until 5 p.m. ET on August

20, 2009, so long as its application was pending in the Easygrants® System as of 5 p.m. ET on

August 14, 2009 (application closing deadline).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general inquiries regarding BIP, contact

David J. Villano, Assistant Administrator Telecommunications Program, Rural Utilities Service,

e-mail: bip@wdc.usda.gov telephone: (202) 690–0525. For general inquiries regarding BTOP,

contact Anthony Wilhelm, Deputy Associate Administrator, Infrastructure Division, Office of

Telecommunications and Information Applications, National Telecommunications and

Information Administration, email: btop@ntia.doc.gov, telephone: (202) 482–2048.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On July 9, 2009, RUS and NTIA published a Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) and

Solicitation of Applications in the Federal Register announcing general policy and application

procedures for the BIP and BTOP.  74 Fed. Reg. 33104 (2009).  In the NOFA, RUS and NTIA

encouraged all applicants to submit their applications electronically and required that certain

applications be filed electronically through an online application system at

http://www.broadbandusa.gov.  74 Fed. Reg. at 33118.  RUS and NTIA established an

application window for these grant programs from July 14, 2009, at 8 a.m. ET through August

14, 2009, at 5 p.m. ET (application closing deadline).

Over the last several days, the online application system (Easygrants® System) has experienced

service delays due to the volume of activity from potential applicants.  The agencies have added

additional servers to address these capacity issues.  Nevertheless, in an effort to give applicants

that have already started the electronic application submission process prior to the application

closing deadline an opportunity to complete the submission of those applications, RUS and

NTIA announce that an applicant with an application pending in the Easygrants® System as of 5

p.m. ET on August 14, 2009, will be given until 5 p.m. ET on August 20, 2009, to complete the

electronic submission of its application.  Please note that an applicant must have completed the

following steps, at a minimum, to be recognized as having a pending application in the

Easygrants® System:

1. Log into the Easygrants® System at www.broadbandusa.gov;

2. Select “Start a new application” under “Apply for a new grant/loan;”

3. Select one of the two choices for available funding opportunities;

4. Select “Continue;” and

5. Select “ok” when prompted “Are you sure you want to apply for the program.”

All other requirements for electronic submissions set forth in the NOFA remain unchanged.

There are no changes to the filing instructions, requirements, or application deadline for paper

submissions.

Dated:  August 13, 2009

_/s/____

Jonathan Adelstein

Administrator

Rural Utilities Service

_/s/____

Anna M. Gomez

Acting Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Broadband USA site now has active link to NOFA:

Link to NOFA (pdf download)

HIGHLIGHTS of the NOTICE OF FUNDS AVAILABILITY

Related downloads:

A summary by Knight Foundation, Knight Center for Digital Excellence on the NOFA.

A summary, strategy and recommendations for changes by New America Foundation on the NOFA.

KEY POINTS

USDA and NTIA have developed a two-step application process:

- In step one, the goal is to create a pool of viable and potentially fundable applications.

- Step two is to fully validate the submissions in step one and identify the most highly qualified applications for funding.

BTOP funds are available through 3 categories:

- Broadband Infrastructure

- Public Computer Centers

- Sustainable Broadband Adoption.

Broadband Infrastructure category consists of Last Mile and Middle Mile in unserved and underserved areas.

Broadband definition: two-way data transmission with advertised speeds of at least 768 kbps downstream and at least 200 kbps upstream.

Public Computer Center will expand public access and capacity at entities that permit the public to use these computing centers.

The Sustainable Broadband Adoption category will fund innovative projects that promote broadband demand.

- $1.2billion for Last Mile Projects.

- $400M for grants Remote Area projects.*

- $800M for loans or loan/grant combos for Non-Remote projects.*

- $800M for loans or loan/grant combos for Middle Mile projects.

* Remote area means an unserved, rural area 50 miles from the limits of a non-rural area.

All awards under NTIA BTOP and USDA BIP must be made no later than September 30, 2010

For-profit corps that are willing to promote the goals of the Recovery Act and comply with the statutory requirements are eligible.

Eligibility factors:

- 1) application;

- 2) completion w/2 yrs;

- 3) technical feasibility.

Nondiscrimination and Interconnection Obligations:

- i. adhere to the principles contained in the FCC’s Internet Policy Statement

- ii. not favor any lawful Internet applications and content over others

- iii. display any network management policies and provide notice to customers of changes to these policies

- iv. connect to the public Internet directly or indirectly, such that the project is not an entirely private closed network

- v. offer interconnection on reasonable rates and terms to be negotiated with requesting parties

Conditions will apply for the life of the awardee’s facilities used in the project.

The scoring criteria for BIP and BTOP:

- 1 Project Purpose;

- 2 Project Benefits;

- 3 Project Viability;

- 4 Project Budget and Sustainability.

As follows;

- Project Purpose 25 pts: Proportion of Rural Residents Served in Unserved Areas 5 pts Rural Area Targeting 5 pts Remote Area Targeting 5 pts.

- Title II Borrowers (5 points). Recovery Act and other governmental collaboration (5 points).

- Broadband speed: Last Mile Projects of 20+ megabit per second service will be favored; 100+ megabits per second service for Middle Mile.

- Pts for demonstrating affordability and providing choice of provider.

- Pts for 25% discounts to “all critical community facilities in the proposed funded service area”.

- Critical community facilities: public facilities that provide community services essential for supporting the safety, health, well-being.

* Critical community facilities: emergency response and other public safety activities, hospitals and clinics, libraries, schools and more.

- Project Viability (25 points).

- Applicant’s organizational capability (12 points); Community support (2 points); Ability to promptly start project (10 points).

- Disadvantaged small businesses (1 point).

- Project Budget and Sustainability (25 points).

USDA and NTIA intend to announce the awards starting on or about November 7, 2009.

Unserved area:

- census block where at least 90% of HHs lack access to facilities-based, terrestrial broadband service @ 768 kbps.

Underserved area:

- 1. no more than 50% of the HHs in the area have access to facilities-based, terrestrial broadband service @ 768 kbps.

- 2. no fixed or mobile broadband service provider advertises broadband transmission speeds of at least 3mbps.

DEADLINE 6/19/09

With the assistance of Aspen Wireless our clients successfully submitted over $3M in grant applications across 4 states to the USDA RUS under the Community Connect program, which NOFA totaled $13M in available funds.

The Community Connect program is NOT a stimulus-related program but rather an annual program by the USDA RUS for the funding of broadband networks:

• UNSERVED: Communities not served by broadband AND


• RURALITY: Under 20,000 Population Ranked by tier and/or


• NEED: Below 75% State Median Household Income (MHI) ranked by tier


• MATCH: These grants last for a period of 2 years and include both capital and operational costs with only a 15% matching requirement (which can be certain in-kind contributions).

Community Connect grant applications must be submitted on a community-by-community basis, individually and show significant work with and involvement by the local community in planning.  An additional requirement is to build or create a staffed digital community center with computers and free broadband access, operating beyond the first 2 years.

Aspen Wireless created the grant applications, (wireless) broadband network engineering, and financial modeling as well as work by gaining local support from Senators, Public Safety Offices, Economic Development Districts, County and City Commissioners, Mayors and Educators.

We appreciate our clients’ trust in us and look forward to many successful grant awards for these rural communities in need of broadband.

Ignorance is bliss!  Who says all ARRA stimulus has no rules and will not be funding until the end of this year?  Could you benefit from a grant for $50k?  $250k?  How about $1 million?

From the USDA website:

RURAL BUSINESS ENTERPRISE GRANTS (RBEG) PROGRAM

The RBEG program provides grants for rural projects that finance and facilitate development of small and emerging rural businesses help fund distance learning networks, and help fund employment related adult education programs. To assist with business development, RBEGs may fund a broad array of activities.

How much are the grants?
There is no maximum level of grant funding. However, smaller projects are given higher priority.

Who is eligible?
Rural public entities (towns, communities, State agencies, and authorities), Indian tribes and rural private non-profit corporations are eligible to apply for funding.

Define Rural
Rural is defined as any area other than a city or town that has a population of greater than 50,000 and the urbanized area contiguous and adjacent to such a city or town according to the latest decennial census. At least 51 percent of the outstanding interest in any project must have membership or be owned by U.S. citizens or resident aliens.

What types of projects are eligible?
The RBEG program is a broad based program that reaches to the core of rural development in a number of ways. Examples of eligible fund use include: Acquisition or development of land, easements, or rights of way; construction, conversion, renovation, of buildings, plants, machinery, equipment, access streets and roads, parking areas, utilities; pollution control and abatement; capitalization of revolving loan funds including funds that will make loans for start ups and working capital; training and technical assistance; distance adult learning for job training and advancement; rural transportation improvement; and project planning. Any project funded under the RBEG program should benefit small and emerging private businesses in rural areas. Small and emerging private businesses are those that will employ 50 or fewer new employees and have less than $1 million in projected gross revenues.

How to Apply
To apply for funding for the RBEG program, please contact your Rural Development State Office. (or contact us or see our services).

Availability of Funds
Each year, Congress provides program funding as called for in the Federal Budget. Fiscal Year funding levels will be made available as soon as possible after the beginning of each Fiscal Year.

Breaking News: RUS To Post 2009 Funds Notice for Community Connect Grant Program

Courtesy of colleague Peter Pratt stimulatingbroadband.com

04/20/09 The Community Connect Program of the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), division of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), will post its Notice stating available funds for the Program’s 2009 grant cycle within the next 12 to 18 hours.

The Notice will state the grant application deadline date for 2009 applications is June 19, 2009.

The Program within RUS funds telecommunications networks in designated rural and underserved areas of the domestic United States, with grants, loans, and loan guarantees.

The Community Connect Program is funded with annual federal appropriations for the USDA in the range of $20 million to $25 million. The Program is strongly supported by Members of Congress from rural states who routinely work to include the programmatic funding in each federal funding cycle’s Farm Bill. The RUS previously announced that “25 communities in 16 states” received a total of ”$15.6 million in broadband community connect grants” in the 2008 funding round.

Sources within the USDA have stated that the funds Notice will be posted either this evening, April 20, or Tuesday morning, April 21, Washington time (EDT).

Deadlines for grant, loan, and loan guarantee applications, and other terms and conditions of the Program, will be posted on the website of the “Rural Development Community Connect Grant Program,” at: http://www.usda.gov/rus/telecom/commconnect.htm

Note: The annual appropriations and programmatic guidelines for the Community Connect Program are distinct from the $2.5 billion in appropriations and guidelines yet to be issued for the RUS portion of the “broadband stimulus” funds contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) for the ARRA-derived RUS program is expected to be released on or about June 12, 2009 as previously reported by StimulatingBroadband.com here.

The June 12 target date for the NOFA is expected to be a joint issuance with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), as the rulemaking proceeding has been jointly conducted by both agencies to date.

Courtesy of colleague Peter Pratt stimulatingbroadband.com

Recommendations for RUS Broadband Stimulus Programs

Courtesy of colleague Liz Zucco via stimulatingbroadband.com

04/17/09 (Editor’s Note: With this posting, we welcome our colleague Liz Zucco. Liz has deep experience in successfully writing and winning grants and loans for rural carriers, community organizations, and healthcare providers. We welcome her invaluable expertise in the complex realm of federal grantsmanship, program management, and rural broadband. Liz knew rural broadband before rural broadband was cool.)

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) loan program within the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been invaluable in moving funding for rural broadband initiatives out into the field. However, when we examine the loan program and the Community Connect Grant program together, we see that there remain gaps in the methods and availability of funds for rural access. Even with the positive terms of federally backed loans, many times there is just not enough market potential to warrant a loan to serve a particular rural market.

While the Community Connect program provides grants, we believe the program suffers from limitations such as the inability to group together multiple townships to provide for management and operation of a larger system. Such systems scale better and tend to be more sustainable.

With the new $2.5 Billion funding soon to be made available for RUS from the American Recovery and Renewal Act of 2009 (ARRA), RUS now has an important opportunity to do better leverage its funds via some simple program reforms.

We would like to propose that the RUS consider making the following changes in its grant and loan strategies in order to fulfill the goal of access for all Americans.

1. Provide a loan/grant combination for RUS borrowers to assist them in leveraging their operational costs when they are willing to take the risk of a loan. This will give these good borrowers the chance to extend their footprint with assistance for capital costs, and repay monies borrowed to continue the RUS’ ability to make loans. This is a fair solution, as operators are in many cases struggling to get into the leaner and less populated areas. In many cases operators are forced to drop markets altogether due to the inability to justify capital costs. Yet these same borrowers could support their operational costs if given the opportunity to build into these areas with assistance in the form of a grant.

2. Allow the Community Connect program to encompass more than “one incorporated area”. This would allow entire counties to develop unified broadband initiatives, thus improving operational sustainability and better leveraging the costs of running networks in extremely rural markets. Many towns and hamlets are only but a few thousand people. By combining five or six small towns into one consolidated service area, the costs to build and maintain networks are apportioned over a larger revenue base. The rural service provider thus increases its chances of sustaining the network in a previously unserved region.

Credit: Colleague Liz Zucco via StimulatingBroadband.com

Our Thoughts :: The $100 Billion Issue: Cisco Lobbies to Clarify “Buy American” Clause
in Federal Stimulus Package

Courtesy of colleague Liz Zucco via stimulatingbroadband.com

04/16/09 As seen in a publicly disclosed e-mail message from Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the San Jose based networking equipment market leader is lobbying against a strict interpretation of the “Buy American” provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

We believe the Cisco statement to the federal agency is extremely significant. Far more than the $7.2 Billion in “broadband stimulus” funds in ARRA could be subject to the Buy American clause. We believe that upwards of $100 Billion in information technology (IT) appropriations are contained in all of the tech-related programs and funding lines in the Act. As outlined below, we believe that strict application of ARRA provisions meant to apply to roads, bridges, and public buildings can not reasonably be applied to the IT / telecom sector if appropriations from the Act are going to be spent on technology deployments, as intended.

Our analysis of IT funding portions of the Act agrees with that of several legal and market research analysts who have done detailed reviews of the legislation. We believe the approximate $100 Billion IT figure is reached when considering total appropriations, additional to the $7.2 Billion, for: healthcare record computerization, smart grid electric distribution control technology, federal computer system upgrades, public safety communications, intelligent transportation system (ITS) tech within the massive funding for road and bridge construction, computer learning and educational technology, and possible broadband rewiring of subsidized and public housing.

The e-mail message, reproduced on the NTIA’s public disclosure site reports that Cisco’s Jeffrey A. Campbell had an Ex Parte telephonic discussion with NTIA Senior Advisor Mark Seifert on March 23, 2009 to lobby NTIA against strict interpretation and enforcement of the Buy American language contained in Section 1605 of the Act (Section below).

Mr. Campbell, based in Cisco’s Washington office, is the firm’s Senior Director for Technology and Trade Policy, within the corporate Global Policy and Government Affairs division. As stated in his e-mail, he specifically sought clarification from NTIA that any network facilities built with BTOP funds not be ”...constituted a “public work” which would subject them to the “Buy American” requirement.” Alternatively, Campbell sought “a public interest waiver of the “Buy American” requirement…for all electronics equipment used in broadband networks.”

The report by the retained lobbyist who initiated the telephone discussion, and its public disclosure, are both mandated by the Obama Administration’s new disclosure rules for lobbyists seeking to influence any federal agencies relative to grant or loan expenditures from the ARRA. President Obama issued a Memorandum on March 20 which contained the strictures. As reported by the government watchdog group The Sunlight Foundation, the disclosure regulations set off a firestorm of concern on K Street when they were promulgated.

Our analysis:

1. To date we have only seen published stories on the Cisco meeting in Brad Reese’s column on Cisco in Network World, and on Democratic Underground. Cisco itself has not commented yet, although its government affairs site routinely stakes out free trade positions, as is common in the high tech sector. We believe the Cisco argument will receive far greater review and feedback from not only other electronics manufacturers, but from the telecom carriers that purchase their products, and from the bevy of trade associations representing the American high technology industry in Washington. Cisco itself has been instrumental in supporting the work of as many as 32 technology trade groups, including TechNet, in addition to its own robust lobbying presence.

2. The reality is that many components of any microelectronic array, and most semiconductors found in virtually any networking equipment, are fabricated abroad. Virtually no telecom network operating today in the United States, supporting either a public service provider or an enterprise, could function without the existence of global supply chains feeding into the final hardware product. We hope that review of the Act’s Sec. 1605 by NTIA will reasonably look at the realities of global manufacturing and trade in the telecom sector, as do current domestic content regulations of the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service.

3. Cisco and its supported high tech trade groups, like TechNet (the folks that lobbied for a 100 Mpbs national broadband goal back in 2002), have been in the forefront of pushing for a progressive national broadband policy for years. Cisco understands the equation of greater broadband deployment equals greater economic activity and higher employment levels in the American economy. Cisco’s push for clarification of the “Buy American” provision is a reasonable and an ultimately practical request. The goal of an effective national broadband strategy is within reach, in large measure thanks politically and technically to Cisco.

The Buy American language of ARRA is found under Section 1605 of the Act:

BUY AMERICAN SEC. 1605. USE OF AMERICAN IRON, STEEL, AND MANUFACTURED GOODS. (a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for a project for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or public work unless all of the iron, steel, and manufactured goods used in the project are produced in the United States. (b) Subsection (a) shall not apply in any case or category of cases in which the head of the Federal department or agency involved finds that — (1) applying subsection (a) would be inconsistent with the public interest; (2) iron, steel, and the relevant manufactured goods are not produced in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of a satisfactory quality; or (3) inclusion of iron, steel, and manufactured goods produced in the United States will increase the cost of the overall project by more than 25 percent. (c) If the head of a Federal department or agency determines that it is necessary to waive the application of subsection (a) based on a finding under subsection (b), the head of the department or agency shall publish in the Federal Register a detailed written justification as to why the provision is being waived. (d) This section shall be applied in a manner consistent with United States obligations under international agreements.

Credit: Colleague Liz Zucco via StimulatingBroadband.com

Connected Nation doesn’t know how to do the mapping properly, but they’re the only one publicly proposing they have the knowledge and resources.

Our partners do have the resources and have proven scientific results on the most accurate broadband mapping that includes wireless, copper, cable and even fiber.

In the interim, here are the notes from Connected Nation’s ex=parte meeting with the NTIA as filed on the NTIA’s BTOP website.

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/comment.cfm?e=A5975F90-E10E-4695-9F5A-821F0686B521

NOTICE OF MEETING

On March 4, 2009, Tim Sloan, Dennis Amari, Alfred Lee, and Jim McConnaughey of NTIA’s Domestic Policy Office initiated a meeting with Brian Mefford and Phillip Brown of Connected Nation. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss Connected Nation’s methodology for creating maps of broadband services availability and adoption in various States. During that discussion, Connected Nation made the following points:

•A reliable map depicting the availability and adoption of broadband services is critical to the development of orderly, transparent, and measurable projects to address unserved areas or to foster broadband service demand. A Geographic Information System (GIS) format at the street level is used for mapping and “gap” (identifying unserved or underserved areas) analysis.

•Mapping the availability/adoption of broadband service should be coupled with efforts to stimulate broadband demand in order to induce broadband service providers – both wired and wireless—to supply deployment data. Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are important to legally protect confidential and proprietary information. Other useful mapping includes statewide maps that depict (average) actual upload and download speeds.

•If Federal funding of broadband mapping includes a requirement for non-Federal matching funds, the government should allow matching funds to be provided over multiple years. The government should also limit the use of in-kind payments as matching funds.

Broadband Stimulus Public Comment Round Closes at Midnight, 60 Day Target Set for Grant Guidelines…

Courtesy of colleague Peter Pratt stimulatingbroadband.com

04/13/09 The public comment period for input to the two federal agencies writing grant guidelines for the total $7.2 Billion in broadband stimulus funding contained in the American Recovery and Renewal Act of 2009 (ARRA) closes today, April 13, at 12:00 midnight (EDT), local time in Washington DC. A federal agency spokesman further stated today that a target date of June 12 has been set for issuance of funding guidelines for the broadband grants and loans.

Mr. Mark Tolbert, Spokesperson for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the US Department of Commerce, confirmed for StimulatingBroadband.com late this afternoon that the public comment portal at the NTIA website would close this evening at midnight.

Importantly, Tolbert also confirmed that NTIA has set a “target of approximately 60 days” from today for official promulgation of its Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA). The NOFA will provide grant and loan applicants for all ARRA broadband stimulus funds, with guidelines for how to apply, and what selection criteria will be used for evaluation of applications. Tolbert also stated that there will not be another public comment round, nor period for reply comments as is common in proceedings of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), between now and the release of the NOFA on or about June 12.

Mr. Tolbert’s statement, giving this 60-day target cycle for issuance of the NOFA from today’s comment deadline is more specific than the range recently given by NTIA Policy Advisor Mark Seifert on April 2 to a House Subcommittee. In testimony to the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, chaired by Congressman Rick Boucher (D-VA), Seifert stated that NTIA estimated release of the grant guidelines would take “a couple of months”.

In filed written testimony, Seifert stated, “A Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) will be published as expeditiously as possible, likely in the next couple of months, that will describe in detail how the application process will work, how we will evaluate the applications, as well as how grantees will be held accountable, including requirements for progress reports and job creation measurements, to ensure that taxpayer investments are protected.”

“We will be releasing a Notice of Funds Availability,” stated Tolbert this afternoon in a telephone interview “which will spell out criteria and instructions which lead into the application process.”

The NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) portal has been receiving public comments, which are made jointly to NTIA and to the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) division of the US Department of Agriculture, since opening on March 10. Over this 34-day period, just over 1,150 comments had been posted to the public comment site by Monday afternoon.

Just over 180 comments have been filed today alone, up to 5:30 pm (EDT). Comments posted today come from a diverse range of commentators, as has been typical of the previous postings. Comments today included those filed by New Jersey Governor John Corzine, by Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) the large American manufacturer of wireless infrastructure and personal wireless terminals and cell phones, by the Administration of Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell, by the City of New York, by several telecommunications wireline and wireless carriers, and by Mayor Mark Hipsher of Grainger County, Tennessee.

The broadband stimulus provisions of ARRA appropriated a total of $7.2 Billion for grants, loans, and loan guarantee funds to be dispersed by the 2 federal agencies.

Courtesy of colleague Peter Pratt stimulatingbroadband.com

In attendance at the National Telecommunications (NTIA) today and what an interesting event it turned out to be. Let’s begin with the stats of standing room only turning people away at the door attendance at the Department of Commerce in addition to between 2500 and 3000 virtual attendees via webcast, which to my amazement was generally highly available and operational minus a few refreshes.

This was the first of many upcoming meetings the USDA/NTIA/FCC jointly have scheduled but hopefully unique in its content as this turned out to be more of a reverse Q&A with the audience in charge of the answers and the joint teams seeking the answers. The desire to provide transparency in the process and inclusion was apparent, but I believe that between the overwhelming task of handing out these funds and the need for transparency the message, if there was one, got totally lost.

First off let’s be clear that the NTIA is not set up to hand out grants like the USDA’s RUS has for many years and they have struggled a bit through the DTV transition coupons too. But their new leadership, of which have yet to be appointed, will be ready and prepared to take the helm and drive the ship right. I am highly encouraged by the leadership abilities of Julius Genachowski at the FCC and Larry Strickling at NTIA (both pending submission and voted approval).

Ultimately there were no real answers but I also found the questions to be scarce in complexity and depth both by those who attended the microphone as well as in conversations in the hallways. It’s a mad dash to get money and an even more insane task ahead of the NTIA to hand out a good portion of that free stimulus money by April without totally botching the handouts or simply feeding the carriers.

So how should they do it? My friends and I have ideas and are working to put them in place, in the meantime these funds and the opportunity is real for real operators and startups with funding and shovel-ready projects.

AND… if your project is not yet shovel-ready, call us. If it is, call us to help ensure you get a fair shot at the stimulus.

Celebrating 10 Years of Leadership

“Aspen Wireless has been instrumental to our successful ARRA RUS bid in Round One! They are easy to work with and were a critical member of our grant application team. The results speak for themselves – Rivada was selected as one in 18 out of 2,200 RUS BIP/BTOP applicants Nationwide to proceed to the second phase and the first company in the Nation certified as 100% complete and qualified on its app to the US Dept of Agriculture.” ~Rob Needham SVP, Rivada Networks

Aspen Wireless Networks has provided a wide range of services over the last decade for clients from business to technology and all areas in-between. Our pride comes from knowing that our deep knowledge and experience in the industry provides our clients long-term success and satisfaction with our services.
Our firm has worked with hundreds of broadband providers over the past decade, in addition to having been operators ourselves.

Services at a Glance

Over the past decade we have formed long and healthy relationships with trusted strategic partners, which allow us to offer the most comprehensive and integrated portfolio of services in the market.

Business Planning

Entity, Strategy, Partners, Growth, Uptake, Competition

Financial Modeling

CapEx, OpEx, Funding, Debt, Revenue, Growth, Risk

Grants and Loans

Strategy, Planning, Narratives, Assembly, Submission

Strategic Relations

Partners, Vendors, Verticals, Gov’t Associations

Systems Engineering

Fiber, Wireless, IP and RF Engineering, Infrastructure

Technology Sourcing

Intro Vendor Selection for Services and Technology

Systems Integration

Installation of Towers, Radios, Energy, etc and Testing

Managed Services

Internal vs External/Hybrid NOC and Billing Services

Ongoing Support

Ongoing Business and Technical Support

*** IMPORTANT STIMULUS NOTE ***

We work with Cities, Counties, States and Service Providers alike because the ARRA Broadband Stimulus, especially NTIA BTOP Grants, require effort from both sides to get your fair share.

USDA RUS BIP and NTIA BTOP Grants and Loans

We have a high success rate on loans submitted to USDA RUS where have been involved, with funding up to $34 million on a single loan. We hang out with the FCC, attended the NTIA meetings and have policy friends in Washington D.C. We offer all the services and expertise you need to invigorate your local economy or operation with ARRA Broadband Stimulus Funds via NTIA BTOP Grants and USDA RUS BIP Grants/Loans – and we realize what few others do, that up to $100 Billion in IT stimulus is available!
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Broadband Mapping

We have been providing broadband mapping, census mapping and RF mapping services for years down to the block level. We have access to data sets for cable, DSL and wireless (WISP) and cellular data in addition to broadband studies which allow us to provide highly accurate and compelling broadband mapping service. For many years we have been leaders in providing demographic overlays to ratify business plans and financial models, in addition to creating target customer maps and pre-qualifications. And all of this, down to the census block level.

Municipal Broadband

Our services include business technology analysis, strategy, feasibility/market studies, loan/grant proposals, proposal vetting. RFP authoring and management (for Municipalities) as well as RFP responses (for Service Providers). Our work has won bids for our clients against industry incumbents as well as awarded millions of dollars in USDA RUS loans and grants.
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Business and Technology

Not only system and network engineering, business engineering. Nothing compares to real experience to ensure that paper engineering turns out as expected. We know the market, business factors, technology and future trends – let us validate your concept and “engineer” your business to success.
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Deployment and Integration

The resources poured into engineering your business and network demand to be deployed by skilled professionals. Allow our network of certified Systems Integrators to deploy your system professionally so it will serve as a solid foundation for your business.
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Training and Education

The learning curve is tough in the fast paced broadband market and there is no time to spare or reputation to stake on failure. We will train your executive staff as well as technical team with the knowledge necessary to succeed in the wireless space.
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Ongoing Support

Stay ahead of the curve by having Aspen Wireless Technologies provide ongoing support for your system. Whether engaging our expertise after deployment, or with our Virtual Technology Officer (VTO) program – let us support your success and overcome hurdles.
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Managed Services

We engineered and built a centralizing intelligence that provides all necessary functions for your system to keep it operating smoothly. This ‘command and control’ allows us to provide a managed service to compliment the VTO program and our world-class support.
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