Tag Archives: broadband grants

Six Steps for Moving Your Broadband Project Forward

By Craig Settles | Published: September 9, 2013

Getting faster better is increasingly becoming an imperative. However, as much as stakeholders can see the value of the a highspeed network, the question of how to get from here to there stymies probably 50% of communities. And they can’t get out of the starting gate. One major hurdle to moving forward is that folks […]

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Posted in Economic Development, funding broadband, Implementation strategies, Needs analysis, Network business planning, public private partnership, Strategic thinking, Tactical thinking | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Building the Gigabit City – My Latest Book Launches

By Craig Settles | Published: May 12, 2013



Last week I released my first e-book, Building the Gigabit City. Enthusiasm for building broadband networks on their own or in public private partnerships is growing rapidly in communities across the U.S. But there’s so much that people need/want to know about community broadband, it’s almost impossible to bring it altogether in one place. Building […]

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Posted in broadband policy, digital inclusion, Economic Development, funding broadband, General analysis, Implementation strategies, Legislative action, Making the business case, National broadband strategy, Needs analysis, Network business planning, public private partnership, Strategic thinking, sustainability, Tactical thinking | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Response

Igniting a Fire Under US Broadband

By Craig Settles | Published: June 14, 2012

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Yesterday the White House announced two major developments. First, President Obama today will sign an Executive Order that mandates all the agencies managing Federal properties and roads create a uniform approach for allowing broadband carriers to build networks on and through those assets. This “build once” strategy should save an estimated 90% of the typical […]

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Posted in digital inclusion, Economic Development, General analysis, Implementation strategies, National broadband strategy, Strategic thinking | Also tagged , , , , | 6 Responses

Interview with Jonathan Adelstein on New $700 Million Broadband Program

By Craig Settles | Published: March 23, 2011



The USDA’s Rural Utilities Services (RUS) recently announced they’re hoping to make $700 million available for broadband projects through the agency’s Farm Bill Broadband Program. While not as substantial as the BIP program, nevertheless this is a sizeable enough payload to make a big difference in a fair number of communities. However, the actual money […]

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Posted in Broadband stimulus, National broadband strategy, Needs analysis, Network business planning | Also tagged , , , | 5 Responses

After the Stimulus, Now What – Sound Marketing Maybe?

By Craig Settles | Published: October 26, 2010

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Last Monday I participated in a Broadband Breakfast panel in DC that examined the effectiveness and shortcomings of the broadband stimulus program. It was a pretty good session since there was one person representing a winning project team and one whose team did not come away with an award. Charles Benton, head of the Benton […]

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Posted in Administration, Broadband stimulus, Implementation strategies, Network business planning, Strategic thinking, Tactical thinking | Also tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

RUS in a Post-Broadband Stimulus World

By Craig Settles | Published: July 12, 2010

Rural Utilities Services (RUS) Administrator Jonathan Adelstein and I have had a couple of opportunities to chat at events where one or both of us delivered presentations. Since we’ve had some interesting exchanges I decided to go for a formal Q & A with the one of the three central figures in the broadband stimulus […]

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Posted in Broadband stimulus, General analysis, Legislative action, National broadband strategy | Also tagged , , , , , | 4 Responses

Preliminary Analysis: First Batch of Stimulus Round 2 Awards

By Craig Settles | Published: July 2, 2010

RUS, NTIA and the White House yesterday held a preliminary conference call to talk about today’s official announcement of the first batch of NOFA 2 (broadband stimulus) award winners. No doubt the winners are popping champagne corks and started their 4th of July weekend fireworks early. The rest of the applicants and some of the […]

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Posted in General analysis, National broadband strategy, Network business planning, Strategic thinking | Also tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Final Tips on Surviving Broadband Stimulus March to Madness

By Craig Settles | Published: March 11, 2010

[This is really long. Print it out for the train ride home] There are two large incumbents in the Cape Cod, MA area. OpenCape is the nonprofit-driven public/private partnership that just won a bunch of BTOP stimulus grant money to build a massive middle mile network. And here is a total random event that typifies […]

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Posted in Broadband stimulus, Implementation strategies, Making the business case, Network business planning, Strategic thinking | Also tagged , , , , , , | 1 Response

Going for Google Broadband Gold (one NC community’s approach)

By Craig Settles | Published: February 24, 2010

Sponsor Less Pain More Gain Simplify the mapping, planning and buildout of your network Google recently turned the broadband world on its ear by announcing it’s going to set up fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks for a handful of lucky communities that will deliver 1 gigabit per second speeds. Dozens of cities large and small are lining […]

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Posted in Broadband stimulus, National broadband strategy, Needs analysis, Strategic thinking | Also tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

NOFA 2 Lessons from a Round 1 Winner

By Craig Settles | Published: February 18, 2010

This post is sponsored by: Eliminate many sleepless nights gathering broadband usage data with ID Insight’s Broadband Scout.  As everyone scrambles to make one last charge into broadband stimulus history – for better or worse – here’s a hopefully helpful post to give you at least a tiny edge in your pursuit of the gold. […]

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Posted in Broadband stimulus, Network business planning, Strategic thinking | Also tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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