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Getting By With a LITTLE Help from Your Friends at USDA

Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Connor today announced the availability of $8.9 million in grants for communities without broadband service to provide residential service and connect facilities such as police and fire stations, health care, libraries and schools.

"The Community Connect Grant Program has proved to be effective in reaching those rural communities where broadband service is least likely to be deployed," Conner said. "Connecting residents and essential community facilities improves local services and the protection of the citizens of these communities." USDA ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF $8.9 MILLION IN BROADBAND GRANTS

Looking for help from Uncle Sam when it comes to connectivity? Don't hold your breath, this is what passes for a Rural Broadband connectivity strategy.

Read the USDA press release and do the math - when you divide up $8.9 million - and where did they get that number? Loose change they found in the USDA sofa under the cushions while vacuuming? - with a minimum of $50,000 and max of $1M, you get at most 188 projects with minimal funding each - yawn - or 9 projects with nearly $1M each - of if we assume a back-of-the-envelope average of $200,000 per project (avg cost of a turnkey mesh network of 1 sq. mi, fully loaded), you get 45 rural projects, or less than one per state.

This must be seen as some sort of experiment, right? I'm depressed....

Posted on July 04, 2007 at 11:49 AM

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