NTIA delays broadband stimulus awards again

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has again pushed back its timeline for awarding broadband stimulus grants and loans, citing "the large number of complex applications and the voluminous amount of information the agency needs to review."

In a filing with the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committee, NTIA said it will begin awarding grants in December and start funding them in February 2010. Previously, NTIA and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) had aimed to finish the process by November and before that the winners were supposed to be announced in September. But in August, the agencies received nearly 2,200 applications asking for almost $28 billion in broadband stimulus money. That is nearly seven times the $4 billion available for the program in this first round.

Due to the overwhelming amount of requests, the NTIA and RUS say they will release all of the remaining available funding in one versus two separate additional rounds.

For more:
- see this Network World article [1]

Related articles:
NTIA, RUS flooded with broadband stimulus applications totaling $28 billion [2]
NTIA, RUS delay broadband grant awards [3]
NTIA to begin awarding broadband stimulus grants in November
[4]Broadband stimulus: Clarity is needed, say service providers [5]
[4]NTIA reports strong interest in broadband funding applications [6]
[4]Comcast protests broadband stimulus grant applications [7]