Aspen Wireless News & Updates

From a letter released by the White House this morning:

Project Spotlight: The Administration will award a last-mile grant to Rivada Sea Lion, an Alaska Native Corporation, to provide 4G wireless high-speed broadband Internet service to approximately 30,000 residents in 53 unserved, subsistence level communities in 13southwestern Native Alaska. Rivada will design, engineer, and construct a multi-mode 4G last-mile remote network that spans 90,000 square miles and connects homes and businesses as well as anchor institutions such as health clinics, schools, and tribal government facilities. By using wireless and satellite technology rather than copper or fiber, the project will provide the first broadband services to these Native Alaskan communities at relatively low cost.

Along with 17 other projects:

http://broadbandbreakfast.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/NEC-Broadband-Report.pdf

In a report to Congress, the NTIA said Wednesday that it won’t conclude doling out the first round of broadband stimulus funding until February 2010.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration clarified in its third quarterly progress report to Congress this week that it will be dolling out the entirety of the grant money during the next ten months.

The year 2010 is going to be a busy time for the period for both the NTIA and the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities is the other agency, the two government entities charged with distributing $7.2 billion of federal funding.

“NTIA will not conclude the first round of BTOP funding at the end of 2009 as originally targeted, but is on course to do so in February 2010,” states the report (PDF).

NTIA and RUS announced this month that they will limit the remaining grant awards to one more round of funding, which they write in the report “will begin early in 2010.”

Courtesy of BroadbandCensus.com

One of our clients was just notified today that their application has passed Round One of the RUS BIP / NTIA BTOP broadband stimulus application process.

Round Two is coming up quickly with the RFI in a couple of weeks and a NOFA this winter (with a 60-day application time) inside sources say.

Do you need help with Step Two? How about Round Two?

Aspen Wireless can help, contact us.

UPDATE: Thursday, August 13, 2009

The application closing deadline for the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) is extended until 5 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on August 20, 2009, for any electronic applications pending as of 5 p.m. ET on August 14, 2009.

There are no changes to the filing instructions for paper applications. For more information see Federal Register Notice: Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) Extension of Application Closing Deadline for Pending Electronic Applications.

The Notice is being provided for informational purposes only. If there is any difference between this document and the Notice officially published in the Federal Register, the Federal Register Notice is controlling.

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/frnotices/2009/FR_BroadbandExtension_090813.pdf

FROM THE OFFICIAL RELEASE:

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Utilities Service

RIN 0572-ZA01

Broadband Initiatives Program

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

RIN 0660-ZA28

Broadband Technology Opportunities Program

AGENCIES: Rural Utilities Service (RUS), Department of Agriculture, and National

Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Funds Availability; extension of application closing deadline for pending

electronic applications.

SUMMARY: RUS and NTIA announce that the application closing deadline for the Broadband

Initiatives Program (BIP) and the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) is

extended until 5 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on August 20, 2009, for any electronic applications

pending as of 5 p.m. ET on August 14, 2009.   There are no changes to the filing instructions for

paper applications.

DATES: An applicant that is submitting an application for the BIP and BTOP electronically

will be permitted to complete electronic submission of its application until 5 p.m. ET on August

20, 2009, so long as its application was pending in the Easygrants® System as of 5 p.m. ET on

August 14, 2009 (application closing deadline).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general inquiries regarding BIP, contact

David J. Villano, Assistant Administrator Telecommunications Program, Rural Utilities Service,

e-mail: bip@wdc.usda.gov telephone: (202) 690–0525. For general inquiries regarding BTOP,

contact Anthony Wilhelm, Deputy Associate Administrator, Infrastructure Division, Office of

Telecommunications and Information Applications, National Telecommunications and

Information Administration, email: btop@ntia.doc.gov, telephone: (202) 482–2048.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On July 9, 2009, RUS and NTIA published a Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) and

Solicitation of Applications in the Federal Register announcing general policy and application

procedures for the BIP and BTOP.  74 Fed. Reg. 33104 (2009).  In the NOFA, RUS and NTIA

encouraged all applicants to submit their applications electronically and required that certain

applications be filed electronically through an online application system at

http://www.broadbandusa.gov.  74 Fed. Reg. at 33118.  RUS and NTIA established an

application window for these grant programs from July 14, 2009, at 8 a.m. ET through August

14, 2009, at 5 p.m. ET (application closing deadline).

Over the last several days, the online application system (Easygrants® System) has experienced

service delays due to the volume of activity from potential applicants.  The agencies have added

additional servers to address these capacity issues.  Nevertheless, in an effort to give applicants

that have already started the electronic application submission process prior to the application

closing deadline an opportunity to complete the submission of those applications, RUS and

NTIA announce that an applicant with an application pending in the Easygrants® System as of 5

p.m. ET on August 14, 2009, will be given until 5 p.m. ET on August 20, 2009, to complete the

electronic submission of its application.  Please note that an applicant must have completed the

following steps, at a minimum, to be recognized as having a pending application in the

Easygrants® System:

1. Log into the Easygrants® System at www.broadbandusa.gov;

2. Select “Start a new application” under “Apply for a new grant/loan;”

3. Select one of the two choices for available funding opportunities;

4. Select “Continue;” and

5. Select “ok” when prompted “Are you sure you want to apply for the program.”

All other requirements for electronic submissions set forth in the NOFA remain unchanged.

There are no changes to the filing instructions, requirements, or application deadline for paper

submissions.

Dated:  August 13, 2009

_/s/____

Jonathan Adelstein

Administrator

Rural Utilities Service

_/s/____

Anna M. Gomez

Acting Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

It’s our fault, we found errors in the methodology USDA RUS had on the map and notified the USDA about them so they pulled it.  It’s okay – it’ll be back soon hopefully, but folks need to map broadband, census and households so it only helps a bit.

From broadbandusa.gov:

The “BIP Map of Non-Rural Areas” has been removed until further notice, as some of the non-rural areas were incorrectly represented. Please refer to the definition in the NOFA for which areas should be considered “rural areas”. We apologize for the inconvenience while we make critical enhancements to the map.

We have excellent mapping capabilities and existing (public) databases that allow us to create quick multi-sourced broadband infrastructure maps including cable, dsl wireless and cellular providers as well as data from the FCC and other sources.

This can be additionally layered with households and businesses and census/demographic data. All of this data is done down to the block level, like we have been doing for years for our clients.

What is best is we can provide this information (as open and public information) by the time the states get to review BTOP/BIP grants… and we do it for a fraction of the cost of others.

State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program Online Workshop

On July 24, 2009, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will host an online workshop on its recently announced grant program to fund collection of state-level broadband data, as well as state-wide broadband mapping and planning. This initiative will provide consumers with better information on the broadband services available to them and inform efforts to increase broadband availability nationwide. The workshop is intended to present information and answer questions about the grant application process for potential applicants.
The State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program is a competitive, merit-based matching grant program that implements the joint purposes of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA). The Program will provide up to approximately $240 million in grants to assist states or their designees to develop state-specific data on the deployment levels and adoption rates of broadband services. These data, including publicly available state-wide broadband maps, will also be used to develop the comprehensive, interactive national broadband map that NTIA is required by the Recovery Act to create and make publicly available by February 17, 2011.

The workshop will be recorded and made available online at  www.broadbandusa.gov. Grant applications for this program will be accepted through the online grants.gov system until August 14, 2009.

Pre-registration for the workshop is required and NTIA recommends registering no later than two hours in advance.  Potential applicants are invited to email questions about the grant program to  broadbandmapping@ntia.doc.gov in advance of the workshop.

Register for the Broadband Mapping Online Workshop, which will be held on July 24 at 1pm.

REGISTER FOR A SESSION:

Wed Jul 8, 2009 9:00 AM PDT

Thu Jul 9, 2009 9:00 AM PDT

Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:00 AM PDT








After a decade of broadband consulting we guessed 95% right, but did the NOFA surprise you?

- DEADLINE: August 14th

- MAPPING: Census Block Level

- DEFINITIONS: Rural, Remote, Underserved and Unserved

- ENGINEERING: Signoff over $1 Million

- E-FILING: Registration Req’s

We will show you how to successfully address these and other vital issues so you meet the deadline in an expediant and accurate way so as not to get thrown out. Discussion + Q&A!

ALL-IMPORTANT MAPPING

We’ve been doing demographic and broadband analysis at the block level for years and we will show you some of the mapping methodologies that will help ratify your business case, engineering and prepare your grant for success.

- Households, Population, Income, etc

- Define “Rural” and % of Rural

- Distance from Urban Markets

- Identify Existing Broadband: Cable, DSL, Wireless, Cellular

- Cross-referencing with existing databases

- Determine Unserved and Underserved

- Determine BTOP or BIP Eligibility

- Output in Map and Spreadsheet form

REAL STRATEGY

We possess the strategy and our record speaks for itself.  Every RFP response we’ve written has won and every grant/loan submitted has been awarded!  We can’t guarantee success; our expertise and breadth can make a positive contribution to your broadband plan.  Did you know that you can include grant preparation and planning as a reimbursable part of your application if awarded?

REAL HELP

Do you need more resources to hit the deadline?  Can we help fill in the gaps?  Provide a sanity check?

- Business Planning

- Financial Modeling

- System Engineering: Wireless, Cable, Fiber; Middle and Last Mile

- Mapping Census + Broadband (Cable, DSL, Wireless, Cellular)

- Grant/Loan Strategy + Narratives, Preparation and Assembly

- Project Management RFP Management / Proposal Vetting

REAL LEADERS

Fmr Obama Campaign Tech Policy Committee w/ Larry Strickling.

Highly successful on RFP and USDA RUS loan & grant applications.

We get Senators, Congress, Governors and Counties to back our clients.

Created “National Broadband” in 2002 for broadband to 38 rural states.

The first Wall Street Journal (cover-page) article on rural Wi-Fi in 2001.

We provide comprehensive services ranging from business to technology.

We engineer financials and technology, integrating experience for results.

Customers range from CenturyTel to Walmart to hundreds of WISPs.


REGISTER FOR A SESSION NOW:

Wed Jul 8, 2009 9:00 AM PDT

Thu Jul 9, 2009 9:00 AM PDT

Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:00 AM PDT

Broadband USA site now has active link to NOFA:

Link to NOFA (pdf download)

HIGHLIGHTS of the NOTICE OF FUNDS AVAILABILITY

Related downloads:

A summary by Knight Foundation, Knight Center for Digital Excellence on the NOFA.

A summary, strategy and recommendations for changes by New America Foundation on the NOFA.

KEY POINTS

USDA and NTIA have developed a two-step application process:

- In step one, the goal is to create a pool of viable and potentially fundable applications.

- Step two is to fully validate the submissions in step one and identify the most highly qualified applications for funding.

BTOP funds are available through 3 categories:

- Broadband Infrastructure

- Public Computer Centers

- Sustainable Broadband Adoption.

Broadband Infrastructure category consists of Last Mile and Middle Mile in unserved and underserved areas.

Broadband definition: two-way data transmission with advertised speeds of at least 768 kbps downstream and at least 200 kbps upstream.

Public Computer Center will expand public access and capacity at entities that permit the public to use these computing centers.

The Sustainable Broadband Adoption category will fund innovative projects that promote broadband demand.

- $1.2billion for Last Mile Projects.

- $400M for grants Remote Area projects.*

- $800M for loans or loan/grant combos for Non-Remote projects.*

- $800M for loans or loan/grant combos for Middle Mile projects.

* Remote area means an unserved, rural area 50 miles from the limits of a non-rural area.

All awards under NTIA BTOP and USDA BIP must be made no later than September 30, 2010

For-profit corps that are willing to promote the goals of the Recovery Act and comply with the statutory requirements are eligible.

Eligibility factors:

- 1) application;

- 2) completion w/2 yrs;

- 3) technical feasibility.

Nondiscrimination and Interconnection Obligations:

- i. adhere to the principles contained in the FCC’s Internet Policy Statement

- ii. not favor any lawful Internet applications and content over others

- iii. display any network management policies and provide notice to customers of changes to these policies

- iv. connect to the public Internet directly or indirectly, such that the project is not an entirely private closed network

- v. offer interconnection on reasonable rates and terms to be negotiated with requesting parties

Conditions will apply for the life of the awardee’s facilities used in the project.

The scoring criteria for BIP and BTOP:

- 1 Project Purpose;

- 2 Project Benefits;

- 3 Project Viability;

- 4 Project Budget and Sustainability.

As follows;

- Project Purpose 25 pts: Proportion of Rural Residents Served in Unserved Areas 5 pts Rural Area Targeting 5 pts Remote Area Targeting 5 pts.

- Title II Borrowers (5 points). Recovery Act and other governmental collaboration (5 points).

- Broadband speed: Last Mile Projects of 20+ megabit per second service will be favored; 100+ megabits per second service for Middle Mile.

- Pts for demonstrating affordability and providing choice of provider.

- Pts for 25% discounts to “all critical community facilities in the proposed funded service area”.

- Critical community facilities: public facilities that provide community services essential for supporting the safety, health, well-being.

* Critical community facilities: emergency response and other public safety activities, hospitals and clinics, libraries, schools and more.

- Project Viability (25 points).

- Applicant’s organizational capability (12 points); Community support (2 points); Ability to promptly start project (10 points).

- Disadvantaged small businesses (1 point).

- Project Budget and Sustainability (25 points).

USDA and NTIA intend to announce the awards starting on or about November 7, 2009.

Unserved area:

- census block where at least 90% of HHs lack access to facilities-based, terrestrial broadband service @ 768 kbps.

Underserved area:

- 1. no more than 50% of the HHs in the area have access to facilities-based, terrestrial broadband service @ 768 kbps.

- 2. no fixed or mobile broadband service provider advertises broadband transmission speeds of at least 3mbps.

Aspen Wireless Networks has provided a wide range of services over the last decade for clients from business to technology and all areas in-between. Our pride comes from knowing that our deep knowledge and experience in the industry provides our clients long-term success and satisfaction with our services.
Our firm has worked with hundreds of broadband providers over the past decade, in addition to having been operators ourselves.

Services at a Glance

Over the past decade we have formed long and healthy relationships with trusted strategic partners, which allow us to offer the most comprehensive and integrated portfolio of services in the market.

Business Planning

Entity, Strategy, Partners, Growth, Uptake, Competition

Financial Modeling

CapEx, OpEx, Funding, Debt, Revenue, Growth, Risk

Grants and Loans

Strategy, Planning, Narratives, Assembly, Submission

Strategic Relations

Partners, Vendors, Verticals, Gov’t Associations

Systems Engineering

Fiber, Wireless, IP and RF Engineering, Infrastructure

Technology Sourcing

Intro Vendor Selection for Services and Technology

Systems Integration

Installation of Towers, Radios, Energy, etc and Testing

Managed Services

Internal vs External/Hybrid NOC and Billing Services

Ongoing Support

Ongoing Business and Technical Support

*** IMPORTANT STIMULUS NOTE ***

We work with Cities, Counties, States and Service Providers alike because the ARRA Broadband Stimulus, especially NTIA BTOP Grants, require effort from both sides to get your fair share.

USDA RUS BIP and NTIA BTOP Grants and Loans

We have a high success rate on loans submitted to USDA RUS where have been involved, with funding up to $34 million on a single loan. We hang out with the FCC, attended the NTIA meetings and have policy friends in Washington D.C. We offer all the services and expertise you need to invigorate your local economy or operation with ARRA Broadband Stimulus Funds via NTIA BTOP Grants and USDA RUS BIP Grants/Loans – and we realize what few others do, that up to $100 Billion in IT stimulus is available!
More on Loan and Grant Development »

Broadband Mapping

We have been providing broadband mapping, census mapping and RF mapping services for years down to the block level. We have access to data sets for cable, DSL and wireless (WISP) and cellular data in addition to broadband studies which allow us to provide highly accurate and compelling broadband mapping service. For many years we have been leaders in providing demographic overlays to ratify business plans and financial models, in addition to creating target customer maps and pre-qualifications. And all of this, down to the census block level.

Municipal Broadband

Our services include business technology analysis, strategy, feasibility/market studies, loan/grant proposals, proposal vetting. RFP authoring and management (for Municipalities) as well as RFP responses (for Service Providers). Our work has won bids for our clients against industry incumbents as well as awarded millions of dollars in USDA RUS loans and grants.
More on Grants, Loans and RFPs »

Business and Technology

Not only system and network engineering, business engineering. Nothing compares to real experience to ensure that paper engineering turns out as expected. We know the market, business factors, technology and future trends – let us validate your concept and “engineer” your business to success.
More on Engineering »

Deployment and Integration

The resources poured into engineering your business and network demand to be deployed by skilled professionals. Allow our network of certified Systems Integrators to deploy your system professionally so it will serve as a solid foundation for your business.
More on Integration »

Training and Education

The learning curve is tough in the fast paced broadband market and there is no time to spare or reputation to stake on failure. We will train your executive staff as well as technical team with the knowledge necessary to succeed in the wireless space.
More on Education »

Ongoing Support

Stay ahead of the curve by having Aspen Wireless Technologies provide ongoing support for your system. Whether engaging our expertise after deployment, or with our Virtual Technology Officer (VTO) program – let us support your success and overcome hurdles.
More on Support »

Managed Services

We engineered and built a centralizing intelligence that provides all necessary functions for your system to keep it operating smoothly. This ‘command and control’ allows us to provide a managed service to compliment the VTO program and our world-class support.
More on Managed »