The Obama administration published the criteria for its technology initiative funds yesterday, a Wall Street Journal article reports. The published document deals with the method of distributing billions of dollars toward the development of broadband in the US.
The funds will go primarily to unserved and underserved areas across the country–namely, the rural patch of America. Regions where half or fewer of the households can access broadband today will fit this category.
So far, none of the major broadband networks providers–such as AT&T, Comcast, or Verizon–have indicated that they would like to apply for government funding. They could be deterred by the likelihood of the government regulations that will come with the money. However, the stimulus could be beneficial to network equipment companies, such as Altactel-Lucent and Cisco Systems, which are sponsoring grant-writing programs for their customers.
On Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden spoke at Seneca High School about the need for advanced broadband everywhere in America.
“The bottom line it, you can’t function–a nation can’t compete in the 21st century–without an immediate, high-quality access for everything from streaming video to information overline,” he said. “Getting broadband to every American is a priority for this administration.”
Regions can apply for government grants starting on July 14, and the first round of funding will be awarded in September; all of the money must be awarded by September 2010. The departments of Commerce and Agriculture will consider funding projects that provide wired or wireless access starting at low-end DSL speeds, but will give priority to projects that promise higher speeds. Administration officials say they plan to change the rules around after they see how the first round of funding goes.… Read the rest
According to a research report by 
“We have already shifted a part of our resources away from 
“Although WiMAX service strategies differ from operator to operator and from market to market, most operators are focused on the less capital-intensive fixed and nomadic WiMAX broadband services now to address underserved markets seeking ‘wireless DSL,’ and many have formalized plans to migrate to full mobility WiMAX over the next couple of years. VoIP, CPE and device subsidization, and an emphasis on pre-paid and ad-hoc pricing are also integral service components for many operators we interviewed,” said 
Mobile broadband technologies, most notably WiMax, will provide the challenge to Telekom Malaysia Berhad ‘s dominance of the Malaysian Internet access services market, according to a report from 
“The government guaranteed that all service operators will have equal access to this HSBB network, but we remain skeptical of the government’s ability to enforce open access given Competitive Local Exchange Carriers’ (CLECs’) experience in Malaysia to date.”
The report therefore identifies WiMax as the biggest threat to TM’s dominance and predicts the WiMax operators will be largely responsible for cutting TM’s share of the Internet access market from 97 percent at present to 77 percent by 2014. In terms of revenue, Pyramid predicts the Internet access market will be worth $1.2 billion in 2014 and further suggests that the number of WiMax access lines will rise dramatically to reach more than 770,000 in 2014, when it will account for about 11 percent of the total broadband access market. The 
“The launch of wi-tribe in Pakistan is a very important moment for all of us at the Qtel Group as it relfects a major stepping stone towards our commitment to bring broadband wireless access to more peope, to connect individuals and businesses more easily and to improve access to the Internet in all new and emerging markets,” said Dr. Nasser Marafih, CEO of the Qtel Group and Chairman of wi-tribe.
