It's Official: No Broadband Will Be Stimulated This Year (Or Will It?)

[Commentary] Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grants may not be made until December 2009 -- is that the best the government can do? A 10-month turnaround since passage of the Recovery Act? So what might a better way to distribute these grants more quickly look like? Well how about this: have the government set out a set of standards that if a project can live up to can get fast-track grant approval. Now let's consider how these standards could work. Let's start with unserved/underserved. Rather than getting stuck in a policy debate over semantics, why not just set the standard that to qualify for the fast-track a network must hit at least 50% unserved homes, and set some restrictions on making sure these grants don't go to areas with robust competition (DSL, cable, and wireless being available, for example). Then Daily would add in a requirement that the project have proven local support, maybe having to reach a 50% pre-subscription rate. This would then mean the first grants go to those communities who have most galvanized local support and will also help insure the network will be financially sustainable. (50% is an arbitrary number; it could be higher or lower depending on what's most appropriate.)