Political Wrangling Ties Up Broadband Expansion Grant Funds

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher want most of the broadband funds to be divided among both unserved and underserved regions of the country, while Senate Commerce Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison and House Commerce Ranking Member Joe Barton want to concentrate on areas with no broadband service at all. Until their differences are resolved, $7.2 billion sits in the vault unspent. No towers or fiber optic lines are being built to bring broadband service to customers who don't have internet connectivity.

Internet Expansion Is The New FCC Priority

Announcing his nomination of Julius Genachowski to chairmanship of the FCC, President Obama charged the new leader with designing a plan to bring broadband internet connectivity to rural and low income areas within one year, signaling additional federal spending on communications network construction in the coming months. If you are in the wireless broadband tower construction segment, keep your eyes on the FedBizOpps.gov website for your chance to bid on these projects.