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House Committee Recommends $6 Billion in Broadband Grants
By BlueDragon1981 - 01-16-2009 12:23 PM
Originally Posted at: Dead Parrot Tavern
====================
Quote:
House Committee Recommends $6 Billion in Broadband Grants
Grant Gross, IDG News Service
Jan 15, 2009 4:00 pm
http://www.pcworld.com/article/15779...ml?tk=rss_news
A U.S. House of Representatives committee has recommended the U.S. government give out US$6 billion in grants for wireless and broadband roll-out in a $825 billion economic stimulus package to be considered in Congress.
The House Appropriations Committee's recommendations, released Thursday, also include $20 billion for health IT programs and $650 million to buy more coupons for digital television converter boxes, as U.S. television stations are scheduled to switch to all-digital broadcasts on Feb. 17. A $1.3 billion fund for the coupons at the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) ran out of money earlier this month.
U.S. residents receiving over-the-air broadcasts on older television sets will need to buy a converter to continue to receive TV signals after Feb. 17. The NTIA program provided $40 coupons for converter boxes, which can cost $40 to $80.
The broadband money is less than several groups had called for. A year ago, Educause, a higher education tech advocacy group, called for $100 billion in new broadband spending, with $32 billion coming from the U.S. government, spread out over four years. The money is needed to bring 100Mbps of broadband service to every U.S. home and business, Educause said.
In recent weeks, Free Press, a media reform group, has called for $44 billion in new government programs for broadband, and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) suggested a $30 billion broadband program would create about 950,000 new jobs in the U.S.
Still, Free Press applauded the Appropriations Committee recommendation. "While $6 billion is not as much as we had hoped for, it is a substantial investment that represents an important public commitment to broadband," Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, said in a statement. "This money must be tied to a single agency that can uphold clear principles of public service and enforce concrete administrative accountability."
Free Press and other groups calling for a national broadband policy say money for roll-out would create jobs and would bring new opportunities to U.S. residents in areas that do not have broadband. Some experts estimate 5 percent to 10 percent of U.S. households do not have broadband service available.
The broadband money will "strengthen the economy and provide business and job opportunities in every section of America with benefits to e-commerce, education and health-care," a House Appropriations Committee document said. "For every dollar invested in broadband the economy sees a ten-fold return on that investment."
The House Appropriations Committee's recommendations are the first step in a longer process to passing the so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. President-elect Barack Obama and the U.S. Senate are likely come up with different numbers. Obama has said that U.S. government investment in broadband is an important policy goal.
"We haven't seen an Obama plan, we haven't seen a Senate plan, we haven't had a vote on anything," said Art Brodsky, communications director of Public Knowledge, an advocacy group that has called for more broadband competition. "We're pleased that broadband is part of the equation and look forward not only to seeing the spending amounts, but on the conditions for distribution."
A final stimulus package could also include tax credits for broadband providers to roll out service in rural areas, in addition to the grants in the Appropriations Committee recommendations, added Rob Atkinson, president of the ITIF. "I think $6 billion is not that bad, frankly," he said. "But if that's all there is, then I'm going to be disappointed."
The $6 billion in grants would likely require additional spending by broadband providers receiving the grants, bringing the spending closer to what the ITIF and other groups wanted, Atkinson added.
The Appropriations Committee recommendations don't include details of the $275 billion in tax breaks in the $825 billion stimulus package. Those recommendations would come from the House Ways and Means Committee, which decides tax policy.
Other recommendations in the Appropriations Committee package:
-- $11 billion for building an Internet-based smart grid attached to the country's electricity networks.
-- $400 million to replace the Social Security Administration's 30-year-old National Computer Center. The State Department, Farm Service Agency and Agriculture Department would also get money for technology upgrades.
-- $20 billion for modernizing schools, including technology upgrades, and another $1 billion for computer and science labs in schools.
-- More than $11 billion for federal research, including $2 billion for the National Science Foundation for science and engineering research focused on environmental challenges and improving global economic competitiveness.
-- $20 billion to "jumpstart" efforts to computerize health-care records.
Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski, during a Thursday hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said federal funding for health IT is needed, but she also urged caution. Lawmakers need to make sure health IT systems are patient centric and interoperable, she said.
Several other government IT projects in recent years have not produced good results, she said. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation spent hundreds of millions of dollars to revamp its automated case management system and "it wasn't worth a warm spit," said Mikulski, a Democrat. "We don't want another techno-boondoggle."
I agree that something should be done to give us better broadband access and the ability to do business at a faster speed. A better system would be a great benefit if done correctly and actually had consumers in mind.
However there lyes the problem. It is the government we are talking about here. I do not have one ounce of faith to muster up in regards to them spending this money wisely. My suggestion is for them to allow private firms to build the infrastructure. This too has its faults because private firms can be bought out just as well as the government. Also the big companies will likely be the ones getting the money. If it falls in the hands of Verizon, AT&T, ComCast, and the like it will most undoubtedly be mishandled and will have no effect on the consumer. If anything they will find a way to charge us more. Our companies that run the wireless and broadband structures are corrupt and have the politicians in their pockets. I say give it to a solid small upstart company. A company with a plan to actually spread the infrastructure to the masses and improve the system as a whole, however this is unlikely to happen.
Next I think we should have a say in this. It after all should be partly owned by the American public. Why because we are the ones paying for it. We should be at full disclosure on where it is spent and the effect it is having. The first place it should be spent is to improve the access that schools, and education facilities have, next hospitals etc. After those areas are addressed you then work on getting the wireless working in 80% more area and the broadband at least up to 3 mbps in all cities of the United States.
We are falling behind the rest of the developed nations in the world. One big reason is the companies that run it another is something that the others that are ahead of us dont have to deal with. It is the huge land mass. Japan, and the other countries on the top of the list dont have the land area we do to establish a network. I bet if we ran a test of an are the size of japan and hooked them up with FiOS etc then we would fair well. However our land mass causes a problem. We only rank in the top ten in one category according to many surveys and that is the most expensive.
Here are some links regarding our rankings. Some say we arent so bad some say we need to do something. What do you all think about this?
http://www.betanews.com/article/How_...ess/1206141370
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/0...-and-dropping/
http://gigaom.com/2007/04/23/us-drops-broadband-rank/
http://wistechnology.com/articles/5277/
http://broadbandcensus.com/blog/?p=200
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=1557
Read More...
------------------------------------
The Dead Parrot Tavern - The Dead Parrot Tavern is a community forum for the discussion of the golden age of piracy, pirate fests, ren faires, science fiction, fantasy and horror with news, info, calendars of events, message boards, and more! We welcome all to our shores!
By BlueDragon1981 - 01-16-2009 12:23 PM
Originally Posted at: Dead Parrot Tavern
====================
Quote:
House Committee Recommends $6 Billion in Broadband Grants
Grant Gross, IDG News Service
Jan 15, 2009 4:00 pm
http://www.pcworld.com/article/15779...ml?tk=rss_news
A U.S. House of Representatives committee has recommended the U.S. government give out US$6 billion in grants for wireless and broadband roll-out in a $825 billion economic stimulus package to be considered in Congress.
The House Appropriations Committee's recommendations, released Thursday, also include $20 billion for health IT programs and $650 million to buy more coupons for digital television converter boxes, as U.S. television stations are scheduled to switch to all-digital broadcasts on Feb. 17. A $1.3 billion fund for the coupons at the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) ran out of money earlier this month.
U.S. residents receiving over-the-air broadcasts on older television sets will need to buy a converter to continue to receive TV signals after Feb. 17. The NTIA program provided $40 coupons for converter boxes, which can cost $40 to $80.
The broadband money is less than several groups had called for. A year ago, Educause, a higher education tech advocacy group, called for $100 billion in new broadband spending, with $32 billion coming from the U.S. government, spread out over four years. The money is needed to bring 100Mbps of broadband service to every U.S. home and business, Educause said.
In recent weeks, Free Press, a media reform group, has called for $44 billion in new government programs for broadband, and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) suggested a $30 billion broadband program would create about 950,000 new jobs in the U.S.
Still, Free Press applauded the Appropriations Committee recommendation. "While $6 billion is not as much as we had hoped for, it is a substantial investment that represents an important public commitment to broadband," Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, said in a statement. "This money must be tied to a single agency that can uphold clear principles of public service and enforce concrete administrative accountability."
Free Press and other groups calling for a national broadband policy say money for roll-out would create jobs and would bring new opportunities to U.S. residents in areas that do not have broadband. Some experts estimate 5 percent to 10 percent of U.S. households do not have broadband service available.
The broadband money will "strengthen the economy and provide business and job opportunities in every section of America with benefits to e-commerce, education and health-care," a House Appropriations Committee document said. "For every dollar invested in broadband the economy sees a ten-fold return on that investment."
The House Appropriations Committee's recommendations are the first step in a longer process to passing the so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. President-elect Barack Obama and the U.S. Senate are likely come up with different numbers. Obama has said that U.S. government investment in broadband is an important policy goal.
"We haven't seen an Obama plan, we haven't seen a Senate plan, we haven't had a vote on anything," said Art Brodsky, communications director of Public Knowledge, an advocacy group that has called for more broadband competition. "We're pleased that broadband is part of the equation and look forward not only to seeing the spending amounts, but on the conditions for distribution."
A final stimulus package could also include tax credits for broadband providers to roll out service in rural areas, in addition to the grants in the Appropriations Committee recommendations, added Rob Atkinson, president of the ITIF. "I think $6 billion is not that bad, frankly," he said. "But if that's all there is, then I'm going to be disappointed."
The $6 billion in grants would likely require additional spending by broadband providers receiving the grants, bringing the spending closer to what the ITIF and other groups wanted, Atkinson added.
The Appropriations Committee recommendations don't include details of the $275 billion in tax breaks in the $825 billion stimulus package. Those recommendations would come from the House Ways and Means Committee, which decides tax policy.
Other recommendations in the Appropriations Committee package:
-- $11 billion for building an Internet-based smart grid attached to the country's electricity networks.
-- $400 million to replace the Social Security Administration's 30-year-old National Computer Center. The State Department, Farm Service Agency and Agriculture Department would also get money for technology upgrades.
-- $20 billion for modernizing schools, including technology upgrades, and another $1 billion for computer and science labs in schools.
-- More than $11 billion for federal research, including $2 billion for the National Science Foundation for science and engineering research focused on environmental challenges and improving global economic competitiveness.
-- $20 billion to "jumpstart" efforts to computerize health-care records.
Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski, during a Thursday hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said federal funding for health IT is needed, but she also urged caution. Lawmakers need to make sure health IT systems are patient centric and interoperable, she said.
Several other government IT projects in recent years have not produced good results, she said. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation spent hundreds of millions of dollars to revamp its automated case management system and "it wasn't worth a warm spit," said Mikulski, a Democrat. "We don't want another techno-boondoggle."
I agree that something should be done to give us better broadband access and the ability to do business at a faster speed. A better system would be a great benefit if done correctly and actually had consumers in mind.
However there lyes the problem. It is the government we are talking about here. I do not have one ounce of faith to muster up in regards to them spending this money wisely. My suggestion is for them to allow private firms to build the infrastructure. This too has its faults because private firms can be bought out just as well as the government. Also the big companies will likely be the ones getting the money. If it falls in the hands of Verizon, AT&T, ComCast, and the like it will most undoubtedly be mishandled and will have no effect on the consumer. If anything they will find a way to charge us more. Our companies that run the wireless and broadband structures are corrupt and have the politicians in their pockets. I say give it to a solid small upstart company. A company with a plan to actually spread the infrastructure to the masses and improve the system as a whole, however this is unlikely to happen.
Next I think we should have a say in this. It after all should be partly owned by the American public. Why because we are the ones paying for it. We should be at full disclosure on where it is spent and the effect it is having. The first place it should be spent is to improve the access that schools, and education facilities have, next hospitals etc. After those areas are addressed you then work on getting the wireless working in 80% more area and the broadband at least up to 3 mbps in all cities of the United States.
We are falling behind the rest of the developed nations in the world. One big reason is the companies that run it another is something that the others that are ahead of us dont have to deal with. It is the huge land mass. Japan, and the other countries on the top of the list dont have the land area we do to establish a network. I bet if we ran a test of an are the size of japan and hooked them up with FiOS etc then we would fair well. However our land mass causes a problem. We only rank in the top ten in one category according to many surveys and that is the most expensive.
Here are some links regarding our rankings. Some say we arent so bad some say we need to do something. What do you all think about this?
http://www.betanews.com/article/How_...ess/1206141370
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/0...-and-dropping/
http://gigaom.com/2007/04/23/us-drops-broadband-rank/
http://wistechnology.com/articles/5277/
http://broadbandcensus.com/blog/?p=200
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=1557
Read More...
------------------------------------
The Dead Parrot Tavern - The Dead Parrot Tavern is a community forum for the discussion of the golden age of piracy, pirate fests, ren faires, science fiction, fantasy and horror with news, info, calendars of events, message boards, and more! We welcome all to our shores!
