Verizon, AT&T May Tell U.S. to Keep $7.2 Billion Stimulus Money

Verizon and AT&T may not apply to broadband stimulus funds. Unlike the businesses that welcomed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act approved by Congress last month, the two biggest US phone companies have reservations. They're urging the government not to help other companies compete with them through broadband grants or to set new conditions on how Internet access should be provided. The companies have remained noncommittal as they lobby to shape rules for the grants. "I don't think there's much for them to gain financially from going after this money," especially if the government attaches strings to it, said Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. The government will receive a "massive" number of applications, mostly from small companies, said former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell. "If you're an entrepreneur or a businessperson, you're sitting in a room right now, figuring out every way to Sunday how to get this money -- and they're all coming," Powell, a Republican who headed the FCC from 2001 through 2005, said. Officials say more than 2,000 companies, local governments, community groups and consumer advocates have contacted them about the agency's rules for disbursing its stimulus money.