Big networks shun US broadband funds, Leap leaps on bandwagon

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Big networks shun US broadband funds, Leap leaps on bandwagon

By PETER WHITE

Published: 18 August, 2009

READ MORE: US | Broadband

The billions of US government monies set aside for stimulating broadband access is being shunned by the major network operators, and so far the only widely publicized cellular entry is from Cricket Broadband, part of Leap Wireless.

Cricket has partnered up with One Economy a specialist at taking broadband to low-income families and targeted just five cities with its proposal to the NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. The Project, called Change Access, extends a trial held in Portland, Oregon to 23,000 low-income families in Baltimore, Houston, Memphis, San Diego and Washington, DC to help them get broadband in what it calls a sustainable fashion.

That means that the price will be subsidized and digital literacy training will be provided so that local low income families will develop the habit of using the internet. In the US right now penetration of low income families is about half the rate of higher income families.

Project Change Access will deliver low cost wireless broadband through Cricket's 3G network to desktops and laptops while One Economy would provide education, employment and health portals and use a freshly trained youths corps to run the digital training.

The US has set aside $7.2 billion to fund broadband investment with $4.7 billion allocated to the NTIA to award grants for unserved or underserved areas, including training and education. The rest of the money will be handled by the US Department of Agriculture to make loans to companies building out broadband infrastructure in rural areas.

But as details of this and other bids for grants and funding began to appear in the US, it became clear that most major cellular and cable operators were too troubled by the open access provisions laid on the funding by the government to apply for the funding, with AT&T and Verizon, along with Qwest, Comcast and Time Warner Cable all letting it be known quietly that they had no applications in the pipeline to tap these funds.

One other wired broadband carrier which has applied for cash is Level 3 Communications which has an alterative fiber network across parts of the US. It says it is prepared to extend its fiber to currently unserved parts of the US, but did not give details of its application except to say that up to 24 of its existing nodes could be used to reach areas where either there is no broadband or only one provider.

Meanwhile, both the NTIA and the Department of Agriculture are extending their deadlines by another week for applications until August 21. This is because their web sites have been running slow due to the weight of applications and there have been concerns about whether or not all the bid details have been accurately delivered.