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Barack Obama promised broadband for all, so it makes sense that the rules today emphasize reaching those who can't get DSL or cable. Areas that can get 3 meg or more - nearly all wired territories - do not fit in to the artifical category "underserved." Most of the rural telcos have been planning to ask for money to build fiber in areas already served. They do not qualifyThe important exception is if fewer than 40% of the people currently take broadband, a reasonable way to identify poorer areas. (definition below, 121 page NOFA http://bit.ly/1a2CFA)

Companies can begin applying in two weeks, and they will start releasing funds as soon as some are approved. They want to get the money out quickly, targeting $4B in the first round.

RUS in proposing a $B in "middle mile" backhaul, although there is plenty of fiber in place almost everywhere. They specifically will fund projects that duplicate telco fiber if the price is too high. Jules Genachowski can save most of that $B by enforcing the rules on "special access" so that backhaul carrierscan't charge rural areas 1,000% markups and higher.

There's a lot of talking about controls to prevent wasting public money, but the substance to make that real isn't in the NOFA. I hope they find a way; thousands of companies think this is free money and they can waste most of it. The first step is to honor the President's promise that all the information be public, specifically including that necessary to tell if the money is well spent. That would require revealing the major items purchased and what they cost, the number of miles of fiber built, and any important reasons the particular project is more expensive than most. The second bvious step is establishing standard costs. We know fiber all the way home is costing $700 at Verizon and high-end DSL $300 or less at AT&T.

There's $700M in the budget for outreach, community centers, and the like. Loads of community oriented efforts: think schools, libraries, government programs, non-profits committed to training, etc.  They demand that projects approved be "sustainable" - i.e. likely to be funded past the two years. If enforced, that would rule out most programs like Connect Kentucky which are aimed at making broadband more available and letting people know about it. By nature, that's a short term program unless it morphs into some kind of funded training. Politically, it will be impossible to leave them out. They have key allies in the Bells, the CWA (strong Obama supporters,) and some parts of the African-American community with whom they may apply jointly. In addition, some people still don't realize that "demand stimulus" is mostly a crock, although all the data falls apart if you actually check it out.

The states will be asked for priority lists. Some will be very helpful; others, probably including the incompetents in California, are likely to be loaded with patronage hacks. (California approved $10,000/line subsidies for AT&T projects that should have cost less than $500. That is at least incompetence.)

Much more to come. 121 pages at http://bit.ly/1a2CFA Here's the clause on "underserved." It will exclude most plans of the rural telcos if enforced.

472 Underserved area means a proposed funded service area, composed of one or more
473 contiguous census blocks27 meeting certain criteria that measure the availability of broadband
474 service and the level of advertised broadband speeds. These criteria conform to the two distinct
475 components of the Broadband Infrastructure category of eligible projects—Last Mile and Middle
476 Mile. Specifically, a proposed funded service area may qualify as underserved for last mile
477 projects if at least one of the following factors is met, though the presumption will be that more
478 than one factor is present: 1. no more than 50 percent of the households in the proposed funded
479 service area have access to facilities-based, terrestrial broadband service at greater than the
27 Census blocks are the smallest geographic areas for which the U.S. Bureau of the Census collects and tabulates
decennial census data. Census blocks are formed by streets, roads, railroads, streams and other bodies of water,
other visible physical and cultural features, and the legal boundaries shown on Census Bureau maps. Census data at
this level serve as a valuable source for small-area geographic studies. See the Census Bureau’s website at
http://www.census.gov for more detailed information on its data gathering methodology.
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480 minimum broadband transmission speed (set forth in the definition of broadband above); 2. no
481 fixed or mobile broadband service provider advertises broadband transmission speeds of at least
482 three megabits per second (“mbps”) downstream in the proposed funded service area; or 3. the
483 rate of broadband subscribership for the proposed funded service area is 40 percent of
484 households or less. A proposed funded service area may qualify as underserved for Middle Mile
485 projects if one interconnection point terminates in a proposed funded service area that qualifies
486 as unserved or underserved for Last Mile projects.
487 Unserved area means a proposed funded service area, composed of one or more
488 contiguous census blocks, where at least 90 percent of households in the proposed funded service
489 area lack access to facilities-based, terrestrial broadband service, either fixed or mobile, at the
490 minimum broadband transmission speed (set forth in the definition of broadband above). A
491 household has access to broadband service if the household can readily subscribe to that service
492 upon request.