Broadband Funding Hopefuls Pair Up in Search of Stimulus Dollars

It may be another month — at least — before officials at the Commerce and Agriculture Departments provide grant proposal details for companies and communities hoping to win some of the $7.2 billion set aside for broadband-stimulus funding, but some hopefuls are already beginning to pair up in hopes of increasing their chances of success. Stimulus-funding hopefuls are also in talks about how they can pair up on grant proposals, including Connected Nation, a nonprofit funded by big phone and cable companies which offers broadband mapping services. Earlier this week, Connected Nation said it had teamed up with the Communications Workers of America and the Atlanta-based nonprofit Alliance for Digital Equality in hopes of winning some of the $250 million set aside in the stimulus legislation for encouraging broadband usage. Administration officials haven't offered many details about how they'll judge which applications to fund, but they have said they're looking for projects that bring private industry and public organizations together to increase broadband availability and usage. For broadband backbone companies like Level 3 Communications, that means working with state and local officials on proposals to construct so-called "middle-mile" fiber lines would allow the company to offer wholesale access to multiple local Internet providers in an area.