[1st-mile-nm] "Wired to fail"

[Steve Ross]

Homes passed were about 1.5 million since 2009 to the end of FY2014 (Sept
30, 2014), not all through BIP... so roughly a 50% take rate.

BTW, notice how much attention Masha and I give to these things....



Steve Ross
Editor-at-Large, Broadband Communities Magazine (www.bbcmag.com)
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On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 3:51 PM, Masha Zager <masha at bbcmag.com> wrote:

> According to a GAO report, RUS awarded over $3 billion for the BIP
> stimulus program, which was considerably *more* money than it had
> budgeted (because some loans were repaid and recycled), and most of the
> projects were in fact built. If $277 million is in fact left over (which I
> would doubt), that’s less than 10% of the total. Estimated subscribers as
> of 2014 were about 730,000. Presumably, homes passed exceed the number of
> subscribers by quite a bit, and take rates should rise as time goes on. The
> goals were homes passed, not subscribers.
>
>
>
> http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-511
>
>
>
> Certainly the program was not perfect (unsurprising, given that it was put
> together in a big hurry with a lot of stringent or even impossible
> conditions) but to paint it as a disaster doesn’t seem fair.
>
>
>
> Likewise with the regular RUS broadband program, which has faced a number
> of hurdles (including lack of funding for several years because the Farm
> Bill was years late) but has still funded many successful projects. Anyone
> who has ever applied for a RUS loan will tell you they put a lot of effort
> (way too much effort, in the view of most borrowers) into “helping the
> applicant develop a workable plan.”
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* 1st-mile-nm [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Roger Snodgrass
> *Sent:* Thursday, July 30, 2015 3:17 PM
> *To:* 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org
> *Subject:* Re: [1st-mile-nm] "Wired to fail"
>
>
>
> Thanks for the feedback on this. Re-reading with the additional context, I
> can see why  Richard and Steve think the author was too hard on RUS. My
> thinking was that providing the additional access was so important,
> something is wrong with a program that gives out such a small fraction of
> its money, and certainly the agency running the program must be
> accountable, even if some or many of the problems lie elsewhere. Maybe some
> part of the money needs to help the applicant develop a workable plan, for
> example. Also, I didn't like the sound of the agency's persistent refusal
> to provide information, which is in my book is a flashing neon admission of
> failure. What good will it do in the future to offer local subsidies if
> they are doomed to fail, regardless of whether it's the granting
> institution or the grantee and local governmen and regulatory pitfalls or
> the monopolizing corporate utilities, causing the problems? The result
> compared to money available is pathetic. Also, there is mention of
> additional work going on in New Mexico. Does anybody know what that refers
> to?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Roger
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 5:34 PM, Roger Snodgrass <roger.sno at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> I assume this group knows all about this, but just in case:
>
>
>
> *"Wired to fail: *How a little known agency mishandled several billion
> dollars of stimulus money trying to expand broadband coverage to rural
> communities," by Tony Romm: "A POLITICO investigation has found that
> roughly half of the nearly 300 projects that [the Rural Utilities Service]
> approved as part of the 2009 Recovery Act have not yet drawn down the full
> amounts they were awarded. ... If these networks do not draw all their cash
> by the end of September, they will have to forfeit what remains. In other
> words, they altogether may squander as much as $277 million in
> still-untapped federal funds, which can't be spent elsewhere in other
> neglected rural communities. ...
>
> *"[S]cores of rural residents *who should have benefited from better
> Internet access ... might continue to lack access to the sort of reliable,
> high-speed service that is common in America's cities. Even RUS admits it's
> not going to provide better service to the 7 million residents it once
> touted; instead, the number in the hundreds of thousands."
> http://politi.co/1SKKGjg
> <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6899ff94fe0d350b4d966e6a6eef991e804ac2e62a5593e34907f6223d7a0b62>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> Roger Snodgrass
> Twitter @pomotor
> https://twitter.com/Pomotor
> home 505-424-8366
> cell 505-920-3677
> l\lllllllll/llllll/\llllll\ll
>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> Roger Snodgrass
> Twitter @pomotor
> https://twitter.com/Pomotor
> home 505-424-8366
> cell 505-920-3677
> l\lllllllll/llllll/\llllll\ll
>
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