Top Ten Ways The NTIA/RUS NOFA Fails America

[Commentary] Cue Paul Shaffer... here's the top ten things wrong with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's and the Rural Utilities Service's notice of broadband stimulus funding availability: 1) It's taken too long to get capital flowing so networks can start deploying. 2) Now things are moving too fast. 3) The workshops are disorganized and pointless. 4) Asking volunteers to vet applications invites fraud. 5) Basing the definitions of unserved and underserved on advertised speeds encourages lying. 6) Giving incumbents right-of-refusal provides opportunity to falsify information to derail projects. 7) Too much emphasis is placed on connecting rural unserved areas and not enough on supporting innovative testbeds. 8) The minimum threshold for the definition of broadband is woefully inadequate. 9) The requirements for projects don't reflect the realities of building networks. 10) In the end, this NOFA fails America in its lack of vision and aspiration.