<div dir="ltr">Get a good intro at our fourth annual economic development conference in Lexington KY Sept 15-18. Chris will be there, as will the RUS director, former RUS director Hilda Legg, Jon Chambers of FCC, NTIA folks, and others of that heft.<div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><br><br>Steve Ross<br>Editor-at-Large, Broadband Communities Magazine (<a href="http://www.bbcmag.com" target="_blank">www.bbcmag.com</a>)<br>201-456-5933 mobile, 781-284-8810 landline<br>707-WOW-SSR3 (707-969-7773) Google Voice<br>editorsteve (Facebook, LinkedIn)<br>editorsteve1 (Twitter)<br><a href="mailto:steve@bbcmag.com" target="_blank">steve@bbcmag.com</a><br><a href="mailto:editorsteve@gmail.com" target="_blank">editorsteve@gmail.com</a><br><br></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 10:53 PM, John Badal <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:JBadal@sacred-wind.com" target="_blank">JBadal@sacred-wind.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<div>Mike</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>FCC's CAF II money is only offered to price cap carriers (in NM, only CenturyLink, Frontier, and Windstream) and then made available to Eligible Telecomm Carriers ("ETC") in a state where the price cap carrier rejects the money for broadband deployment.
The former 2 carriets accepted the CAF II support for NM and Windstream rejected it. If you're interested in vying for CAF II support for Windstream's eligible areas in NM you'll need to obtain ETC designation from our PRC and keep you're eye on future
notices from the FCC regarding the reverse auction process for that rejected support. Participation in the reverse auction and the ETC application are not simple and are big tasks for a little company with little regulatory experience.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Alternatively, the USDA-RUS has several rural broadband grant and loan programs for entities with sound financial and technical backgrounds. The application processes there are far more predictable and a lot more help is made available during the process,
but still can be daunting for the novice.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I suggest you speak with folks who've gone through either and do your studies on the USDA and FCC websites.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>John </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div style="font-size:9px;color:#575757">Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone</div>
</div><div><div class="h5">
<br>
<br>
<div>-------- Original message --------</div>
<div>From: Michael Harris </div>
<div>Date:08/27/2015 5:12 PM (GMT-07:00) </div>
<div>To: Richard Lowenberg </div>
<div>Cc: <a href="mailto:christopher@newrules.org" target="_blank">christopher@newrules.org</a>,1st-mile Nm <<a href="mailto:1st-mile-nm@mailman.dcn.org" target="_blank">1st-mile-nm@mailman.dcn.org</a>> </div>
<div>Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] CenturyLink Accepts Nearly $506 Million in Annual Support from Connect America Fund
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">So I see notices of these awards somewhat regularly, and yes, it would be great if the money go go to a local ISP instead of a big telco. Where/how would a local ISP go about applying for this fund or others like it? There is precious little
information on the FCC's website, and the USDA grants requests I've read about on here don't just say "go here, download this form, and mail to so-and-so."
<div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Anyone have ideas? Links? Contacts?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-Michael</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 5:04 PM, Richard Lowenberg <span dir="ltr">
<<a href="mailto:rl@1st-mile.org" target="_blank">rl@1st-mile.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Thanks for the comment, Chris. I easily agree.<br>
<br>
Additionally, concerning is that the FCC is subsidizing less than<br>
its stated minimum bandwidth recommendation, with The Connect America Fund<br>
support enabling CenturyLink to deliver broadband at speeds of often<br>
no more than 10 Mbps for downloads and 1 Mbps uploads to nearly 1.2 million<br>
homes and businesses in its rural service areas (where the cost of broadband<br>
deployment might otherwise be prohibitive). This action will only<br>
perpetuate the widening of the rural digital divide for millions.<br>
<br>
RL<span><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 2015-08-27 13:59, Christopher Mitchell wrote:<br>
</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<span>I would love to see what some of the local providers could do with $11<br>
million. Though it may not reach 25,000 in the same time span that<br>
CenturyLink can owing to its historic monopoly, I suspect the social<br>
benefits would be significantly larger and would actually lead to more<br>
investment in the future. Dumping more money into a monopoly that has<br>
little ambition to ever meet the needs of its captive audience is a<br>
bad decision.<br>
<br>
Seeing government put $11 million into a company that offers such a<br>
poor service, whether measured technically or by the customer service,<br>
is upsetting.<br>
<br>
Not that this is the fault of the employees, who I have no doubt work<br>
hard. But rather a system designed in the interests of a few to the<br>
detriment of most of us.<br>
<br>
Christopher Mitchell<br>
Director, Community Broadband Networks<br>
Institute for Local Self-Reliance<br>
<br>
</span><a href="http://www.muninetworks.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.muninetworks.org</a> [5]<br>
<br>
@communitynets<br>
<a href="tel:612-276-3456" value="+16122763456" target="_blank">612-276-3456</a> x209 [6]<span><br>
<br>
On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 2:54 PM, Richard Lowenberg <<a href="mailto:rl@1st-mile.org" target="_blank">rl@1st-mile.org</a>><br>
wrote:<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
CenturyLink Accepts Nearly $506 Million in Annual Support from<br>
Connect America Fund to Expand<br>
and Support Broadband for Over 2.3 Million Consumers in 33 States.<br>
<br>
The Connect America Fund support will enable CenturyLink to deliver<br>
broadband at speeds of at<br>
least 10 Mbps for downloads and 1 Mbps uploads to nearly 1.2 million<br>
homes and businesses in<br>
its rural service areas where the cost of broadband deployment might<br>
otherwise be prohibitive.<br>
<br>
“CenturyLink’s acceptance of over one-half billion dollars from<br>
the Connect America Fund<br>
represents a huge investment in broadband for its rural<br>
customers,” said FCC Chairman Tom<br>
Wheeler. “This is the largest amount accepted by any company to<br>
date – and the opportunities<br>
that modern broadband will provide for the rural communities<br>
CenturyLink serves are priceless.”<br>
<br>
The allocation in NM:<br>
Number of homes and businesses reached: 25,308<br>
Amount to be spent: $10,942,747<br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<a href="http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0827/DOC-335071A1.pdf" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0827/DOC-335071A1.pdf</a><br>
<br>
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</span></blockquote>
<br>
-- <br>
<div>
<div>---------------------------------------------------------------<br>
Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director<br>
1st-Mile Institute <a href="tel:505-603-5200" value="+15056035200" target="_blank">505-603-5200</a><br>
Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504,<br>
<a href="mailto:rl@1st-mile.org" target="_blank">rl@1st-mile.org</a> <a href="http://www.1st-mile.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">www.1st-mile.org</a><br>
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</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<br clear="all">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div>
<div>Michael Harris</div>
<div>--</div>
<div>President, Visgence Inc.</div>
<div><a href="http://www.visgence.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#000000">www.visgence.com</font></a></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br></div></div>