 Broadband Stimulus
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) allocated $7.2 billion in funding for broadband access to un-served or underserved areas. This will be administrated through the National Telecom Information Administration (NTIA) – Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and USDA’s Rural Utility Service (RUS) - Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP).
Visit www.broadbandusa.gov
Transition Networks has built a portfolio of Network Interface Devices (NIDs) and demarcation devices to help rural Telco’s decrease their operation expenditure through the use of our multiple classes of remote management—while also increasing rural access, backhaul and bandwidth.
Whether you are an Independent Operating Carrier (IOC), Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC), or Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILEC), pursuing a RUS project or seeking NTIA funding to support economic development initiatives, Transition Networks has the fiber access products to serve your needs. 
Transition Networks Earns USDA’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Acceptance
Minneapolis, MN — Feb. 15, 2010 — Transition Networks Inc., the fiber access technology expert, a wholly owned subsidiary of Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ-GM: JCS), today announced that several of its media converters and network interface devices have received the RUS Acceptance from the Technical Standards Committee A (Telecommunications) in accordance with the list of acceptable materials from the Advanced Services Division of the United States Department of Agriculture — Rural Utilities Service (RUS). Having the RUS acceptance allows rural Independent Operating Carriers (IOC’s) to qualify for loans and grants on end-to-end and access transport rollouts when they deploy Transition Networks products. Read more > | NTIA | | RUS | Of the $7.2 Billion being distributed, $4.7 Billion will be facilitated through the NITA-BTOP application evaluation. Of the $3.9 billion authorized for BTOP Broadband Infrastructure grants, $1.2 billion will be awarded in this round of funding. Awardees under BTOP will be required to provide matching funds of at least 20 percent towards the total project cost. This program provides grants to provide access to broadband service to consumers residing in unserved or underserved areas of the United States.
| | The USDA’s RUS-BIP program will be distributing the remainder of the 2.5 Billion for Broadband deployment in rural areas. This funding will be distributed via grants, loans and loan/grant combinations for broadband infrastructure. At least 75% of areas to be served with these funds must be in a rural area without sufficient access to high speed broadband. |
| BTOP Infrastructure funds will support two projects: | | BIP projects fall into two main categories: | 1) Last Mile Projects are infrastructure projects the predominant purpose of which is to provide broadband service to end users or end-user devices (including households, businesses, community anchor institutions, public safety entities, and critical community facilities). 2) Middle Mile Projects are broadband infrastructure projects that do not predominantly provide broadband service to end users or to end-user devices, and may include interoffice transport, backhaul, Internet connectivity, or special access. | |  1) Last Mile project refers to any infrastructure project the predominant purpose of which is to provide broadband service to end users or end-user devices (including households, businesses, community anchor institutions, public safety entities, and critical community facilities).
2) Middle Mile project means a broadband infrastructure project that does not predominantly provide broadband service to end users or to end-user devices, and may include interoffice transport, backhaul, Internet connectivity, or special access. Up to $1.2 billion is available for Last Mile projects and up to $800 million for Middle Mile projects.
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U.S. Internet is Behind the Rest of the World 
A CWA study (see bar graph) found that the average USA upload speed was 1.1Mbps. In South Korea, the average download speed is 20.4Mbps, or four times faster than the U.S. The U.S. trails Japan at 15.8Mbps, Sweden at 12.8Mbps, the Netherlands at 11.0Mbps, and 24 other countries that have faster broadband.
(Source: www.cwa-union.org)
General Contact Information | For inquiries regarding BTOP: | For inquiries regarding BIP: | Anthony Wilhelm
Deputy Associate Administrator
Infrastructure Division
Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)
email: btop@ntia.doc.gov
telephone: (202) 482-2048 | David J. Villano
Assistant Administrator Telecommunications Program
Rural Utilities Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
email: bip@wdc.usda.gov
telephone: (202) 690-0525 |
Additional Info
For inquiries regarding BIP and BTOP compliance requirements, including applicable federal rules and regulations protecting against fraud, waste and abuse, contact bipcompliance@wdc.usda.gov
for BIP and btopcompliance@ntia.doc.gov for BTOP.
You may obtain additional information regarding applications for BIP via the Internet at http://www.usda.gov/rus/telecom/ and for BTOP at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/.
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; "View CWA Study Bar Graph")
