IDG News Service - Alaskan organizations have applied for US$1.3 billion in broadband deployment stimulus funding from the U.S. government, out of a total of $4 billion in funding available in the first round of grants and loans.
The 26 applications from Alaskan groups may demonstrate both the perceived need for broadband in rural states and optimism from some groups looking for a piece of the $7.2 billion available for broadband development across the U.S. The money is available through a huge economic stimulus package passed by the U.S. Congress early this year.
"I think the first step in trying to sort out all of these is to put these applications into three loosely defined categories: The dreamers, the hopeful and the planners," Craig Settles, a community broadband consultant and president of Successful.com, said in an e-mail. "The dreamers, a.k.a. the 'In your wildest dreams' people who threw a proposal out there because lightning might strike and they'll get lucky. Like ... one state asking for a billion dollars. Entertaining reading, but not likely to get funded."
Alaska, with a population of about 690,000, has just over one person for each of its 656,000 square miles. The largest request for broadband money in Alaska comes from Kodiak-Kenai Cable, which asked for a $172.3 million grant and a $172.5 million loan to fund a submarine fiber-optic cable that would bring broadband to 140 communities in sparsely populated western Alaska.
The fiber project would create or save 5,800 jobs in 23 states, and it would enable telemedicine, distance education and economic development, the company said in its filing. A representative of the company did not return calls seeking comment on the application.
There may be some overlap in applications in Alaska and elsewhere. A second Alaskan company, Adak Eagle Enterprises, asked for $248 million in grants and loans to build an undersea fiber-optic network to bring broadband to the rural Aleutian Islands.
"The states that are at a disadvantage are the big, but sparsely populated ones such as Alaska," Settles said. "To rope 100 or 200 people together under one network is going to be expensive over most of the state because there's so much land between each person. If anyone proposed fiber, the cost is astronomical relative to the total number of people to be covered. Wireless is cheaper, but in the end it won't be cheap."
The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the U.S. Rural Utilities Service (RUS) released a searchable list of broadband applicants last week, although the list does not include applications received by paper. The two agencies have received about 2,200 applications, asking for $28 billion in broadband grants and loans.
Last month I blogged about the partnerships you should build inside your organization. In keeping with that tone it's time we discussed expanding that partnership mentality to include some of the best technical resources you can ever get hold of, those are the ones that work in your neighboring cities, municipalities, counties, regions, townships etc. Come on folks, these people are already doing exactly the same things as you!
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