Courtesy National Telecommunications and Information Administration
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration formed Broadband USA to help localities plan telecomm infrastructure projects and apply for aid, their website says.
A group of at least five northern New York counties are banding together to apply for federal money in the Broadband Infrastructure Program, a program designed to fund projects that bring broadband to underserved communities, especially in rural areas.
“The timing is good,” for the group to bring an application, said John Wheatley, the vice president of the Warren County Economic Development Corporation. The counites either have finished studying broadband access in the region or they are working on it now, he said, adding that the data will be key in the application process.
FoothillsBusinessDaily.com reported in February that 17 counties have been studying this issue. [Read more here.]
“We can demonstrate where we have holes [in coverage] and where we don’t,” Wheatley said.
The five counties in the Lake Champlain – Lake George Regional Planning Group have banded together, said Jim Siplon, the director of the Warren EDC at this morning’s EDC board meeting.
“They’ve all agreed to a joint application,” he said. [He clarified in a subsequent interview that the counties have not approved any actions but representatives are working together on an application at this time.]
The counties are Warren, Washington, Essex, Clinton and Hamilton. Wheatley said that Lewis, St. Lawrence and Franklin counties may also work with this group.
This strategy to form a group to apply for federal funding instead of going it alone, county-by-county, has been in the works for months [read about that here].
In fact, the projects supported under this Broadband Infrastructure Program require a group of states, counties, municipalities or internet services providers to work together, according to the government’s Notice of Financial Opportunity, which outlines the program and funding.
The supported projects, in the range of $5 million to $30 million, are funded by the $288 million budget from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
The funding covers everything from designing, engineering and building the internet infrastructure to labor costs, leases and other expenses.
The NOFO will consider three general areas, the document says.
The Project Purpose and Benefits section asks the applicants to demonstrate who will be helped and how much it will cost people to connect.
The Project Viability section asks the applicants to prove that their proposed technology will work in delivering the internet at high speeds and can be designed and built quickly.
The Project Budget and Sustainability section asks the applicants to prove the project is viable beyond the year-long support it gets from the program and that the project has at least 10% support from state or local governments.
Wheatley said that the local governments have been meeting monthly, under the direction of Dave Wolff, the chairperson of AdkAction’s broadband committee. AdkAction, a philanthropic nonprofit, seeks to solve problems of broadband access, food security and other social issues inside the Adirondack Park. Wolff could not be reached by press time, but Brittany Christenson, the group's executive director, said he was working on these projects.
According to Wheatley, the group has been working on the project’s application, but many details remain. Applications are due Aug. 17. The NTIA has established Broadband USA to help localities plan and apply for these sorts of projects.