According to Broadcasting & Cable, the NTIA is rethinking a lot about the broadband stimulus funding. First, they’re thinking two rounds might be better than one, especially in terms of saving on administrative costs.

Second, they’re rethinking some of the definitions – it sounds as if the definition of remote community is one that was not well received. I know we saw in Minnesota where that definition disappointed potential grant applicants because to qualify for the 80%-100% grant level for remote communities, a community can’t be within 50 miles of a city of 20,000 or more. Again according to the article, the folks out East took particular exception to that definition.

Third, it sounds as if they will be rethinking the definition of broadband. They said that the definition of high-speed–768 kbps–was not high enough and that 1.5 mbps might be a better baseline so that the definition of unserved vs. underserved was not too restrictive.

Something worth considering if you were looking at future funding.