High-speed Net providers await details - Dallas Business Journal:

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billion? The answer may be the telecommunicationsindustry — at least if the money is coming from Uncle Sam with too many stringxs attached. Executives at companies such as Dallas-based are watchinv and waiting while officiale inthe U.S. Commerce and Agriculture Departments figurew out how they will make available funds from the stimuluzs bill forextending high-speed Internet access into rural areas that are either “unserved” or “underserved.” The $7.2 billio n in grants will be distributef by Sept. 10, and rules for how that proces will work are expected to be solidified in the next four weekssor so.
No figures are available for how much monet might find its way intoNorth Texas. As with everything the devil is in the details including the definitionsof “unserved” and “underserved.” Jot Carpentet is vice president of government affairs at CTIA-Th Wireless Association, a Washington, trade group formerly known as the Cellular Telephones Industries Association. Carpenter says the group whose membersinclude AT&T’sa wireless business and the Richardson wireless-equipment maker — wantss to see specifics so its membere can gauge how and whether to approach stimulus grants.
“We need to know what we’re aiming at here to know whether our member companies decide whether to apply or not apply forthe program,” he One issue of concern for larged telecom companies is the possibility that the Feds will require recipients of broadband-stimulus funds to open their networkz to rivals, allowing other companies to potentially take away customers by operatinbg on a given carrier’ws network. “This is not the appropriate venued tosolve that” debate, Carpenteer says. “If the places that would benefit (from the stimulus were easy to serve, they’d already have service.
” In a Kerry Hibbs, an AT&T spokesman, says the company is “nowq examining the rules being established bythe (National Telecommunications and Informatiomn Administration of the Commerce and the (Rural Utilitiesz Service of the Agriculture Department) with a view toward any ways they mightt advance AT&T’s already-significant investmenr in broadband deployment.” Hibbs’ statement, e-mailed to the Dallasd Business Journal, adds that AT&T is readt to work on innovative programs to help drivs broadband deployment and adoption.
Definitions, please Beyond the open Interner issue, another matter of concernj to everybody involved is how todefine areas, and how that differd from “underserved” areas. The views of big broadband providers are spelled out in a lettert to the National Telecommunications and Informatiohn Administration and the Departmentof Agriculture’s Rural Development program from a Washington, D.C., trade group. The letter, signed by USTelecom’sx president and CEO, Walter McCormicjk Jr.
, argues that the definitionsw “should not relate to the number of providerss operating in agiven Instead, McCormick’s missive maintains, the NTIA should “focuws on whether a broadband connection is availablee and whether that connection is sufficiently robust to provide full participation in today’s Internet world. Those definitions shouldx not relate to the numbetr of providers operating in agiven area.” Barbara Lancaster, president of the Richardson teleconm consultancy , believes that when all is said and done, telecom companies will partake in the stimulus “I think they’re goinb to want the she says.
“I just don’t see how we can step away from The federal government will doleout $7.2 billionb to help extend high-speec Internet access services to rural areas. The rules for who will get the moneyh and how they will apply are stillbeing determined. Here’s a look at who will be handingt outthe cash: • U.S. Commerc Department’s National Telecommunications & Information $4.7 billion • U.S. Agriculture Department’w Rural Utilities Service: $2.
5 billion