Qwest seeks stimulus dollars for broadband

Qwest sent a letter to the transition team of President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday asking the federal government to use some of its planned economic stimulus spending to increase high-speed Internet access in unserved areas. The company proposes that the government make an unspecified amount money available to states, which would request bids from companies proposing to achieve 95 percent statewide availability of broadband that's 7-megabits-per-second or faster. Chuck Ward, Qwest's Colorado president, helped formulate aspects of the proposal and said he's optimistic broadband expansion will be included in the Obama administration's proposed infrastructure spending. "It certainly satisfies the stimulus program's objective, and that's putting people to work," Ward said. Qwest doesn't know how much money its proposal would require, because no one knows exactly what areas various private broadband service providers fail to reach, Ward said. The proposal's cost would run into the billions of dollars, at a minimum, however.