Internet providers won't take broadband stimulus money
August 14, 2009
The giant broadband internet companies Comcast, AT&T and Verizon are not planning to apply for broadband stimulus grants from the government, the Washington Post is reporting, in part because of conditions attached to the funds the companies don't like.
The Post cited anonymous sources close to the biggest three broadband internet carriers as saying they don't need the funds anyway. The government's broadband stimulus is making more than $7 billion in grants available, mainly to expand broadband internet access to remote rural areas.
"We are concerned that some new mandates seem to go well beyond current laws and [Federal Communications Commission] rules and may lead to the kind of continuing uncertainty and delay that is antithetical to the president's primary goals of economic stimulus and job creation," said Walter B. McCormick Jr., president of USTelecom, which represents telecoms, according to the Post.
Broadband internet provider Qwest has also decided to pass on applying for stimulus funds, according to the Denver Business Journal.
Steve Davis, Qwest's senior VP for public policy, said the various requirements for participation do not "make the business case" for filing an application, the paper reported.
One objection the carriers have is to federal requirements for so-called net neutrality, which the companies say limits their ability to effectively manage traffic on the internet.
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