FTTH Council Calls on FCC to Create “Gigabit Communities Race to the Top” Program

The Fiber to the Home Council Americas (FTTH Council) challenged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish a Gigabit Communities Race to the Top program, which would demonstrate new models for communications investment and jumpstart the development of ultra-high speed applications so critical to economic growth and social interaction.

Modeled on the Obama Administration’s successful Race to the Top education initiative, the FTTH Council petition sets forth a competitive program of matching grants of up to $10 million for projects in Tier II and Tier III markets where communities working with service providers develop innovative proposals for bringing symmetric gigabit connections to community anchor institutions and their neighboring communities.

Elements of the Gigabit Race To the Top Program:

• The FCC would hold annual competitions in which facilities and service providers, working with local governments and community anchor institutions like schools, hospitals and libraries would present proposals to deploy gigabit networks and provide services at discounted rates to anchor institutions and surrounding neighborhoods.
• The facilities and service providers could be either private or public entities.
• The Commission would select the most meritorious proposals and provide winning applicants with up to $10 Million in funds, to be matched by state and private sources, to support the proposals.
• The program would be funded by unused support in the current Connect America Fund programs targeting areas serviced by price cap local exchange carriers and would be distributed each year for 5 years beginning in 2014.
• Applications would have to describe in detail a proposed project to provide (symmetric) gigabit service to anchor community institutions and neighboring areas in a given area, including a description of which anchor institutions would be served, the nature of the institutions, what links between anchor institutions would be created, the existing and contemplated level of broadband services in the surrounding communities to be served and how the project would serve as a catalyst to drive new applications, additional network builds and community development.
• Projects will be favored if they serve a broad range of anchor community institutions – and interactivity among those anchor institutions – as well as the surrounding neighborhoods. Projects that are selected should be transformational and drive urban and civic improvements and economic growth and innovation and job creation in a way existing programs have not.