The University of Maine isn’t trying to compete with private telcos or hold them back, including by taking part in an NTIA-funded broadband project, a university official said. “We're trying to help promote a competitive telecommunications environment -- and get our telecom needs met,” said Jeff Letourneau, associate director for communications and network services. Implementation of bills to keep the university and other state institutions from participating in the NTIA-funded project or similar efforts “would hurt the state,” said Fletcher Kittredge, CEO of Great Works Internet, the company whose name appeared on the BTOP grant application. Both men were commenting on a bill to be considered by state legislators in the current session that would bar state bodies from delivering telecom services beyond those needed by themselves and their tenants. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Stacey Fitts, R-Pittsfield, has said it’s more important to preserve the state’s legacy copper system and carriers than for the university to take part, as planned, in Great Works Internet’s $24.5 million Broadband Technology Opportunities Program project. Legislators in Maine have shown “huge support” for the university’s efforts to use broadband to bring high-speed online parity to the far-flung outposts that serve some of its 42,000 students, Letourneau said. He noted that in 2007 the Legislature voted to direct $3 million to the university for expanding its fiber network as far as Cambridge, Mass., to connect with other institutions. “The idea is to get all our campuses on a level playing field,” Letourneau said. “There are misconceptions floating around about the university being the recipient of this BTOP grant. That’s not the case."Maine Fiber had its genesis in a last-minute flurry of debate as the Aug. 14 deadline for the first round of BTOP grants was nearing, Great Works’ Kittredge told us. Until then a group of private telcos and other companies, including Great Works, was weighing how to contribute the capital needed to amass the requisite $7 million in matching funds for the dark fiber middle-mile project covered in the application to NTIA. At the 11th hour, negotiations broke down. Kittredge said “it all came down to a dispute over control."

The University of Maine isn’t trying to compete with private telcos or hold them back, including by taking part in an NTIA-funded broadband project, a university official said. “We're trying to help promote a competitive telecommunications environment -- and get our telecom needs met,” said Jeff Letourneau, associate director for communications and network services. Implementation of bills to keep the university and other state institutions from participating in the NTIA-funded project or similar efforts “would hurt the state,” said Fletcher Kittredge, CEO of Great Works Internet, the company whose name appeared on the BTOP grant application.

Financing broadband projects in rural America is a major challenge and lenders need a stable cost-recovery mechanism and help from the government to see that loans get repaid and networks are expanded, financial companies and organizations said in comments at the FCC. The comments were in response to the 28th public notice for the National Broadband Plan, on deployment financing. They were the last comments due at the commission on a notice for the plan.

An NCTA proposal being eyed by the FCC to shrink the Universal Service Fund met with resistance from rural carriers that could lose high-cost support under the plan. The cable petition, which would set up a two-step process by which parties can ask the FCC to reassess universal service support levels for specific geographic areas, is one of several cost-saving measures under consideration by the FCC broadband team (CD Dec 10 p1). In comments last week, rural ILECs said adopting the proposal would undermine the National Broadband Plan.

Availability of universal service funds for broadband access should focus on disadvantaged users where areas with low adoption rates can be attributed to an “inability to pay for service, lack of computer literacy, unavailability of computers, social factors, lack of subscriber interest,” and lack of perceived value, said ViaSat in an ex parte filing. Because ViaSat-1, scheduled for launch in 2011, will be able to serve remote users and bypassed users, disadvantaged users should be the focus, the company said. The FCC should develop nationwide “price benchmarks” for broadband installation, user education and monthly service and then choose among different levels of federal support for customers who meet state eligibility requirements, it said. The USF program should continue to be technology neutral and should promote the development of new technologies for users, said ViaSat.

The FCC and NTIA launched new Web sites Thursday as government agencies work to meet President Obama’s openness directive (WID Dec 9 p4). The FCC took the wraps off its long-awaited Reboot.FCC.gov site, which includes an official FCC blog and a discussion forum for users to submit, vote and comment on ideas for reforming FCC processes and redesigning the agency’s Web site. Meanwhile, NTIA and Rural Utilities Service (RUS) revealed BroadbandMatch, a forum for broadband stimulus applicants to connect and form partnerships.

The FCC and NTIA launched new Web sites Thursday as government agencies work to meet President Obama’s openness directive. The FCC took the wraps off its long-awaited Reboot.FCC.gov site, which includes an official FCC blog and a discussion forum for users to submit, vote and comment on ideas for reforming FCC processes and redesigning the agency’s Web site. Meanwhile, NTIA and Rural Utilities Service (RUS) revealed BroadbandMatch, a forum for broadband stimulus applicants to connect and form partnerships.

The FCC has warned Congress that the National Broadband Plan won’t be ready in time, commission and Capitol Hill officials confirmed. The plan is supposed to be submitted to Congress Feb. 17, according to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The plan has been the focus of a huge push at the agency and is the major agenda item of Chairman Julius Genachowski. Officials said the regulator is having difficulty wrapping up the huge job by the due date. Genachowski has formally asked for more time from Congress.

The FCC has warned Congress that the National Broadband Plan won’t be ready in time, commission and Capitol Hill officials confirmed. The plan is supposed to be submitted to Congress Feb. 17, according to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The plan has been the focus of a huge push at the agency and is the major agenda item of Chairman Julius Genachowski. Officials said the agency is having difficulty wrapping up a big job by the due date. Genachowski has formally asked for more time from Congress.

Consumer Cellular, a low-cost wireless carrier, is trying to become the latest mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) to get FCC clearance so it can offer Lifeline service under the federal Universal Service Fund program. Consumer Cellular is best known because of a partnership with AARP and provides low-cost service to many senior citizens. It sells service that uses the AT&T network.