On March 18, 2009, PCIA - The Wireless Infrastructure Association and Venable LLP hosted a webinar to discuss broadband stimulus provisions of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and to learn more about how federal agencies charged with stimulus grant administration will establish procedures to award grants.
The presentation from that webinar is available for download in the left column. An audio presentation of the webinar can be found on PCIA's website.
The ARRA was signed by President Obama on February 17 and allocates $7.2B for broadband investment, including wireless broadband. NTIA, an office of the Commerce Department, is responsible for administering $4.7B through a Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program. The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) of the Department of Agriculture is responsible for administration of a $2.5B fund targeted to rural deployment.
What information is available about this new program? Who benefits from it? How can you participate?
PCIA’s Government Affairs team and Venable's Communications attorneys have been tracking the legislative and regulatory changes that are most likely to affect how you proceed.
In this webinar, we provided an overview of:
- Criteria for obtaining funding
- Technology Issues and Regulatory Definitions
- Procedures to apply for RUS/NTIA grants
- Strategies for improving grant application prospects
- The role of the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in distributing broadband stimulus funds
PCIA continues to articulate the critical role of wireless infrastructure in our nation’s broadband future, and will engage with relevant federal and state agencies to ensure that wireless infrastructure providers can access these grants.