[1st-mile-nm] New Mexico not part of USDA funding

[Richard Lowenberg]

     I saw this USDA loan announcement earlier in the week, but held 
off posting
it to this list because Open Range <www.openrangecomm.com> has no 
service areas
in NM.     That did not concern me, as there are CLECs, native communities and
other rural providers in NM that have received both grants and loans from the
USDA programs.  I did however contact the USDA loan program officer on
Thursday, to ask some questions, since this loan (to be paid back over time,
and matched by a $100,000 private (satellite) company investment) was
previously announced in March of '07.  Other concerns have to do with the fact
that this is for unproven WiMax and some satellite access provision, and that
Open Range does not have a public information web site.   The URL above, only
gives an email address for their company president, who has never responded to
my contact.   The USDA program officer could not answer any of my questions in
this regard.   We'll watch and see what happens with this loan and multi-state
rural services project.
     Quite a few federally funded projects of this sort do not manifest as
proposed, and some spend received funds, without realizing their 
projects.  This has been the case with some of the native community 
wireless access
projects in NM, as far as my personal inquiries have determined.   Having real
needs, and writing proposals is a lot easier than the required long=term
project management, oversight and community outreach/education 
follow-through. Unfortunate, at the least.
rl
-----

Quoting ggomes at optonline.net:

> It seems that CBS News is not the only party that does not know New 
> Mexico is a state.  USDA provides $267 M to Open Range to fund rural 
> broadband in 17 states - but no New Mexico.
> Gary Gomes
>
> USDA Announces $267 Million Rural Broadband Loan
> Mar. 27, 2008
>

-- 
Richard Lowenberg
1st-Mile Institute
P.O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110;   505-603-5200 cell
rl at 1st-mile.com  www.1st-mile.com

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