Broadband Loans and Grants

National Telecommunications and Information Administration chief Larry Strickling said that the government needs to come up with a "new paradigm" for freeing up government spectrum, saying the problem with NTIA's own report on a timetable and cost -- 10 years and $18 billion -- was too long and too costly.

The House Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held an oversight hearing on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act broadband grants and loans. Recipients of 233 National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awards worth $4 billion have spent just $1.6 billion of it so far. Less than a dozen of the projects have been completed. Six of the awards worth $124.5 million have been returned or revoked. Recipients of 320 Rural Utility Service (RUS) awards worth $2.4 billion have spent $968 million. Five projects have been completed. As of July 2011, $124 million in grants and $35 million in loans have been rescinded or revoked. Allegations also persist that NTIA and RUS funds are not bringing broadband to unserved areas but instead are subsidizing competitors to overbuild privately financed networks.

The House Subcommittee on Communications & Technology has scheduled a hearing May 16 on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act broadband loans and grants, and the Obama Administration is expected to argue that those programs are generating jobs and spurring innovation.

The House Subcommittee on Communications & Technology has scheduled a hearing May 16 on "broadband loans and grants." Republican House leaders have expressed concerns about how the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program and the Broadband Initiatives Program loans and grants created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are being spent, including to what degree they are being used to subsidize competition to existing service, and how the spending is being monitored by the government for waste fraud and abuse.