Broadband Stimulus Notes
The RUS won’t change the definition of “remote area” in the notice of funds availability, the agency said late Friday on broadbandusa.gov, the official Web site tracking the broadband stimulus. The agency said it won’t delay applications with changes in the current notice but will consider modifying the definition for future ones. At a July 9 hearing of the House Rural Development Subcommittee, Cheryl Cook, the Agriculture Department’s under secretary for rural development, indicated that the agency was considering adjusting the definition (CD July 10 p13).
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U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra will speak to the FCC Thursday at the commission’s first broadband workshop, on civic engagement and e-government, the FCC said Monday. Kundra will take part in a government panel with Beth Noveck, the deputy federal chief technology officer for open government, and Graham Richard, a former mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind. Another panel includes Rutgers Law Prof. Ellen Goodman and executives of the American Enterprise Institute, Personal Democracy Forum, the Chicago committee for the 2016 Olympics, and the Sunlight Foundation. Each panel will get 45 minutes, including 25 minutes of Q-and-A. The workshop will end with a 25-minute open mic session allowing public participation. The workshop will be at 9:30 a.m. at the FCC’s headquarters. It will be webcast at www.broadband.gov/ws_egov.html.
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The FCC must improve the data it collects for its Section 706 broadband reports, Commissioner Michael Copps said last week in an interview (CD Aug 3 p1). “What kind of data do we rely on if you had one subscriber a ZIP code who had access to [broadband], and we just conclude that deployment was proceeding in a reasonable and timely fashion in that area,” Copps asked. “That’s not a way to get to an understanding of where we are in the United States, and it’s not very helpful when you're trying to respond to the direction of the Congress in terms of a national broadband strategy.” Copps said the FCC’s goals seem more ambitious under Chairman Julius Genachowski. “I'm looking forward to us becoming the recognized depository of data and facts and information on all the issues under our jurisdiction.”