Announcement of first round broadband funding awards delayed

The announcement of the winning applicants for the first round of broadband stimulus funds has been pushed back to December.

NTIA head Larry Strickling and FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein both agreed that due to the complexities of the process and the demands on the agencies, the first winning bidders would be announced in early December.

“We’re going to take a few more weeks to get this right,” said Strickling, “ I will not fund a bad application.”

Strickling’s statements came during an oversight hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Communications Subcommittee, where Senators from both sides of the aisle expressed concern over several aspects of the NTIA and RUS selection process for broadband funding.

One of the concerns was over the definition of “remote.” To qualify for an RUS grant, applicants must be 50 miles from an urban area, a definition with which many applicants struggled to comply. Senator Rockefeller criticized RUS for making the definition too constrained. Senator Kerry asked that underserved urban areas receive funding and attention comparable to those of rural areas.

NTIA, RUS To Delay Announcement Of Broadband Bid Winners (Broadcasting & Cable)