Tag Archives: ARRA

Unfunded MN ARRA Round One Applications

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A while back I started to wonder what if anything will come of the Round One unfunded ARRA applications. So I contacted everyone who had an unfunded project in Minnesota. My survey was hardly scientific or stringent but I thought it might be interesting to report in.

I found 93 unfunded projects. Of those, 27 were projects that centered only or primarily in Minnesota, a few covered a couple of states and the rest were primarily national projects. I heard back from almost a third of the folks I contacted. I asked just four question encouraging people to say as much or as little as they wanted:

  1. Was your application for an existing plan or project or did the ARRA funding spur you to create a plan?
  2. Did you apply for Round Two Funding?
  3. Do you currently have a plan for moving forward regardless of ARRA funding?

Here’s what I heard or found out:

Was your application for an existing plan or project or did the ARRA funding spur you to create a plan?

About a third of the folks who got back to me indicated that their projects would have been used to significantly expand or extend an existing project. For many people that expansion meant going into new areas. For a few folks it meant a chance to expedite long term plans – I think that was especially true for existing service providers.

Very few folks seems to developed a project out of the blue – but with the quick application turnaround and just the ominous nature of any federal application I think that makes sense.

Did you apply for Round Two Funding?

Almost 70 of the 93 applicants did not reapply. (I was able to check that with the online database of applications so there might be some false negatives if folks applied under a different name. I had checked into this a couple of weeks ago too to find out that there were fewer applicants and more money on the offer in Round Two. ) Some applicants felt that they no longer qualified – such as Hiawatha Broadband; they felt that some of the requirements conflicted with previously written contracts; others felt that their geographic location no longer qualified.

Many of the folks who reapplied pared down the scope of their projects. Either they included fewer states or fewer technologies. Recognizing that for many applicants the ARRA represented an opportunity for growth I think this paring down probably brought some folks closer to their pre-ARRA plans. For some folks that may have been a good call, for others it may be a lost (or slowed down) opportunity.

A few folks seemed to be less than pleased with the funding process. Someone alluded to spending 1500 hours on the applications; others just said straight out that they had experienced frustration. For other folks I think the ARRA funds were an opportunity to think big. I suspect that those who had worked with federal applications in the past may have had a different attitude going in.

Do you currently have a plan for moving forward regardless of ARRA funding?

The response rate on this question is even more nebulous than the previous questions. About 25 applicants reapplied for funding. About a dozen said they were definitely moving forward regardless, we’ve posted news on at least two in the last month: TTM and Keyon and seen other stories posted elsewhere.

NESC update in Northeastern Minnesota

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The Lake County New Chronicle posted an update on the Northeast Service Cooperative’s plan to bring fiber that would pass through St. Louis, Lake, Cook, Koochiching, Carlton, Pine, Itasca and Aitkin counties.

NSC received $43.5 million in ARRA broadband funding to expand broadband in 8 counties and more than 221 key sites, with the potential to stimulate public-private partnerships long-term across the region. They are currently in the engineering phase. As the Chronicle reports…

Representatives of the Northeast Service Cooperative told local officials on Thursday that the group is in the engineering phase of the project to bring broadband to agencies such as medical facilities, counties and schools throughout Northeastern Minnesota.

They also report that they anticipate getting started with building about a year from now. They plan is to build the network for those key sites but then to open the infrastructure up to other providers to service residents and local businesses.

Connect Minnesota Mapping Update

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Yesterday Brent Legg from Connected Nation gave a presentation to the Minnesota Commerce and Labor Committee Telecom Regulation and Infrastructure Division. (You can download audio of the meeting.) As you may recall, Connect Minnesota, a subsidiary of Connected Nation, received almost $500,000 for broadband planning activities over a five-year period in Minnesota from the NTIA as part of the ARRA broadband funding. Brent was kind enough to share his presentation with me. It’s a sneak preview of sorts since they will be doing a more formal launch of their finding in two weeks. (The details aren’t set, I’ll post them when I get them, but it sounds like a webinar during the week of May 17.)

The presentation outlines the project objectives:

  • To further develop strong working relationships with all of Minnesota’s broadband providers and support an environment of public/private collaboration on broadband issues among all stakeholders
  • To update and improve Minnesota’s detailed maps of broadband coverage and launch a new robust, more user-friendly interactive map
  • To utilize the resulting maps to accurately pinpoint any remaining gaps in broadband availability
  • To assess the level of connectivity currently provided to Minnesota’s “community anchor institutions” (i.e., schools, libraries, hospitals, etc.)
  • To assess broadband use among Minnesota’s businesses and residents, and identify barriers to broadband adoption, and
  • To support the work of the Minnesota Broadband Task Force’s successor as needed

It sounds as if they have had success getting data from providers. Their most recent maps include data from 100 out of 120 providers. More data is expected from 18 more providers; two providers have elected not to participate in the mapping.

Spoiler alert – here are their key findings:

  • 95.55% of Minnesota households have access to broadband service of at least 768 kbps downstream
  • 4.45% of Minnesota households are unserved, representing approximately 93,000 unserved households

They have created a tool (BroadbandStat) that will allow end user to perform interactive searches, such as search for and identify broadband service at a specific address, including available speeds and service providers. (You can learn more about the functionality of BroadbandStat on slide 11.)

Connect Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Commerce are working together on the mapping. As part of the project award, Connect Minnesota was required to have a state partner; their partner is the Minnesota Department of Commerce. The Department of Commerce is establishing a project steering committee to work directly with Connect Minnesota. Getting the State and Connect Minnesota working together is great – some of my favorite maps coming out of the initial efforts were the maps created when DEED and Connect Minnesota seemed to work together to create maps for the Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force meeting in March 2009.

I’m looking forward to learning more at the formal/public launch.

Good math news for Round Two ARRA applicants

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I thought the last batch of Round One ARRA award announcements might be the last. It looks as if that suspicion has been confirmed. According to Telecompetitor (and thanks to Ann Higgins for passing it on), that was the last batch of Round One awards.

Also according to Telecompetitor…

The nine new grants bring the total value of awards made by the NTIA in Round 1 to $1.2 billion. Considering that the NTIA was charged with awarding a total of $4.7 billion in two funding rounds, that leaves more than half for the second round.

So that’s good news for anyone who’s in the hopper for Round Two funding. First – there’s more money to be spent. Second, fewer folks have submitted applications.

According to my own tally, this is how Minnesota did:

  • Total loans: 31,939,636
  • Total grants: 87,438,857 ** however that includes 47,778,669 in funds that go to multi-state projects; so 39,660,188 is going more directly to Minnesota

Minnesota Round Two BIP applications are out

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Thanks to John Schultz for sending me the latest on the BIP Round Two applications. Sadly the new applications are not yet in the searchable directory – but I was able to pull out the Minnesota applications. At least I hope I got all of them that relate to Minnesota in some way. Continue reading →

Stimulus wait continues in SW Minnesota

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The Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group found out that they received ARRA funding in February, but they’re still waiting for the check to arrive. At least that what it sounds like from the Jackson County Pilot (April 1, 2010 – Fiber: Coming to a Farm Near You; not currently online but kindly sent to me by John Shepard) and Cottonwood County Citizen Online.

The Cottonwood County Citizen Online reports that according to Windomnet Manager Dan Olsen parts of the project are in a holding pattern but some parts progress; specifically they have finalized the joint powers agreement and started some preliminary engineering.

So it’s kind of a bummer for the communities that are waiting. I suppose Minnesota hadn’t had such a beautiful March they might be in a holding pattern waiting for the ground to thaw. Hopefully the check will arrive soon. Waiting seems to be a recurring theme with the entire ARRA broadband funding initiative.

Qwest ARRA application

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Qwest has submitted an ARRA broadband stimulus application for Round Two funding. The goal is to extend broadband at speeds of 12 to 40 Mbps to rural communities throughout its local service region. They are requesting a grant of $350 million for a project with a total cost of $467 million.

According to Qwest, here is how Qwest’s application would benefit Minnesota:

Total Network Investment: $54.5M
Number of New Sites: 228
Number of Newly Served/Upgraded Living Units: 47,793

The Proposed Deployment Would Reach:
• Business: 4,505
• Community Support Organizations: 257
• Government Facilities: 108
• Institutions of Higher Education: 12
• Libraries: 1
• Medical and Healthcare Providers: 103
• Public Safety Entities: 22
• Schools (K-12): 42

Economic Impact:
• Create/Retain 2,725 jobs
• Increased State Income Tax Revenue: $8.6M1

Areas Included in the Proposed Deployment:
Adolph, Anoka, Avon, Barnum, Battle Lake, Bovey, Braham, Brainerd, Buffalo, Cambridge, Carlton, Cloquet, Cohasset, Cold Spring, Dalbo, Detroit Lakes, Dover, Duluth, Elk River, Esko, Eveleth, Eyota, Faribault, Fergus Falls, Gilbert, Grand Marais, Grand Rapids, Grasston, Harris, Hastings, Henning, Hermantown, Iron, Kilkenny, Kimball, Lake Elmo, Litchfield, Little Falls, Lutsen, Mahtowa,, Merrifield, Moorhead, Moose Lake, Mora, Morristown, Nashwauk, Nisswa, North, Branch, Northfield, Ogilvie, Oronoco, Park Rapids, Pengilly, Pillager, Pine City, Princeton, Proctor, Rice, Richwood, Rochert, Rochester, Rush City, Saginaw, Saint Augusta, Saint Cloud, Saint Joseph, Sartell, Sauk Centre, Sauk Rapids, Stanchfield, Stillwater, Sturgeon Lake, Swanville, Twig, Welch, West Lakeland, Wrenshall and Zimmerman.

1 This assumes each job has an annual salary of $45,000. Taxes are at the “married, filing jointly” rate.

What is NTIA looking for?

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As Minnesota Public Radio pointed out earlier this week, so far only two of the 50 or so applications for constructions funds from ARRA broadband stimulus pools have been successful. One of the frustrating aspects of the application process has been the fact that little to no feedback has been given to those you have applied and not been successful.

This frustration is magnified by the fact that many of us are applying again. (Blandin has been fortunate enough to have been contacted by the NTIA to provide more information on their NTIA application, but they will not know if they have received funding until after the deadline for Round Two funding has passed.) How do you reapply when you don’t know how close you were the first time or what aspects of your project did not appeal to grantors?

I was able to glean a little bit of information from the MPR story…

Federal officials aren’t offering a lot of details on why Lake County lost out while others got money. Rural Utilities Service administrator Jonathan Adelstein says in general, the government is looking to help the most rural parts of the nation.

“We emphasized projects that would be able to bring high band width, very high quality service to unserved or underserved rural areas that had a possibility of being there for many years to come,” said Adelstein.

Adelstein says one reason the southwest Minnesota project was picked was because it will build on an established business. The city of Windom, which is included in the project, has operated its own fiber optics system for about five years.

Update on Blandin’s ARRA Broadband Stimulus application plans

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Recently we shared in this space the “good news/bad news” report Blandin Foundation recently received from NTIA. The good news they shared is that our Round I proposal to help create technologically and economically vital rural communities across rural Minnesota continues to enjoy strong support and a high level of interest and is proceeding smoothly through the review process. The bad news was that the review was unlikely to be completed before the March 15th deadline for submissions for Round II BTOP funding. NTIA staff advised us that it would be “wise” to resubmit… just in case.

After some venting and hand wringing, we’ve decided to do just that, and we’re back at it, working on a new Round II application. It’s a bit of a crazy-making exercise because we find ourselves in a position of investing time and energy and brain cells into developing a (somewhat but not that much) revised proposal that we hope will NOT get funded, while simultaneously planning for delivering on a Round I application we hope WILL get funded. Meanwhile we’re heartened to hear announcements of other rural Minnesota projects that are receiving the nod and will bring significant federal investments in enhanced broadband capacity to many rural Minnesota communities.

Update on St. Paul/Ramsey County’s ARRA application

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Beware the Ides of March – March 15. That’s the deadline for Round Two of the ARRA BTOP/BIP funding applications. It’s an interesting time – and that’s why there are so many recent posts on the topic.

The St Paul/Ramsey project is slightly different than the others we’ve mentioned today (Blandin, Lake County) in that they didn’t apply for Round One. St. Paul/Ramsey County plan to work with the Minnesota Fiber Exchange on a public-private partnership that would provide fiber links to government facilities and fiber access to local businesses.

According to the Minnesota Fiber Exchange web site…

Our goal is to provide carrier neutral-dark fiber-open access networks to carriers and ISPs to allow them to expand their business base in the community. Especially in an area such as St. Paul and Ramsey County where currently there is a dearth of fiber assets for lease; we believe that this will be an exciting way for providers to increase customer reach. Our goal is to provide a competitively priced dark fiber service that will allow ISPs to grow business.

The are currently looking for potential ISP/partners. If you’re interested you can find out more in the MFE web site.

Update on Lake County’s ARRA application updates

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Lake County did not receive funding in Round One; they are working on an application for Round Two. Here’s the word from the Lake County News Chronicle on their situation:

“We’re obviously disappointed we didn’t get in on the first round,” said Gary Fields of National Public Broadband, the group working with the county on the project. He said the second chance of funding is more for “last-mile” projects like the one in Lake County, meaning service directly to homes. The first round was for building the basic network.

County Commissioner Paul Bergman doesn’t consider the rejection a “big deal.” He said the second round suits the plan better. Fields said the strength of project is improved because the addition of places like Duluth Township and areas around Ely will show a better chance of economic growth.

The project would connect homes and businesses on the electrical grid with television, internet and phone services.

The Northeast Service Co-operative also has plans for a broadband infrastructure project that focuses on entities such as schools and libraries and connecting them through broadband. Bergman said if that gets funded, it would help with the counties emergency service management.

Update on Blandin’s ARRA Round One application

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We got some good and bad news on our road to pursuing ARRA broadband stimulus funding. The good news is that they report that there remains a strong level of interest in our application. The bad news is that it now appears that a final decision won’t be forthcoming until mid to late March.

We thought we’d share our progress – especially for folks in similar boats. We are considering whether and how to submit a Round Two application. And like many of you we are in a quandary about whether to make changes to the application and if we make changes – what changes to make. We feel that our application already addressed some of the emphasized qualifications for Round Two – but of course – again like so many others – we’re not sure what has gotten us this far and what might make our initiative even more appealing.

Also it sounds as if the timeline for announcements for Round One has been extended. We thought that might be of interest to folks too. The journey continues.

Bernadine

Checkup on ARRA funding

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Thanks to Ann Higgins for sending me an article in USA Today, Stimulus funds for high-speed Internet access tangled up. Some readers will be acutely aware of what’s happening with the funding (or more to the point we’re acutely aware of what’s not happening) with the grants – but for those who aren’t this is a good outline of what’s happened, what hasn’t, what’s predicted to happen and even addresses why. For those living the situation, it’s an interesting read too. The more cynical in the bunch will enjoy the comments.

The article describes the situation in a nutshell:

The goal was to quickly create tens of thousands of jobs and connect millions of poor and rural communities to broadband, a technology that’s essential for economic development, modern medicine and education.

But officials had no idea that the demand for the cash would be so overwhelming. They also were bombarded with questions and challenges from large cable and phone companies including Comcast, Time Warner Cable and AT&T.

The flood of response has led to about 7 percent of the funding being dispersed thus far. Many seem to doubt the agencies (NTIA and RUS) ability to dole out fund before the September 2010 deadline, but the NTIA and RUS maintain they can do it. Craig Settles had a nice line describing the problem…

The effort to spend that money quickly but responsibly is like “trying to use a fire hose with a garden hose nozzle,” says Craig Settles, an independent consultant who helps companies develop broadband strategies. “Getting broadband to the American public is not going to be easy.”

NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling admits, “We’re learning as we go.” I hope that means they have more money to spend later and will be able to put these lessons to good use.

Blandin Foundation Stimulus grant update

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Blandin Foundation is pleased share the news that our request for funds from the NTIA BTOP program for our MN Intelligent Rural Communities project is now in the due diligence phase. We have been busy preparing responses to an initial set of questions posed by NTIA staff and have a conference call scheduled for Tuesday afternoon when we hope to learn more about the process from here.

NTIA has made it clear that entering due diligence does not guarantee funding so we are not counting the chickens yet.

We wanted to share this exciting news with you. Keep your fingers crossed for us please!

ARRA broadband application updates

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Wondering who is out of the running for Round One funding from the NTIA? It appears as if the NTIA has started to update the status of Round 1 applications at broadbandusa.gov.

Do a search and you’ll see updates in the Status field. At this point there seem to be a few options:

  • Application Received
  • Application Not Funded
  • Application Not Funded by BTOP – maybe implying that there’s still hope for BIP/RUS money?
  • Awarded – not as many as I’d like to see here

Most seem to be in the Application Received or Application Not Funded at this point. According to Broadband Breakfast, Larry Strickling had encouragement for “those in the Not Funded group…

“Don’t fret over round one, there’s more money in round two,” said Larry Strickling, head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration at the Friday presentation. “I know folks are getting what you’re calling a rejection letter, but we’re looking at it as an ‘opportunity to reapply’ letter.”