The $825 billion proposal from the Obama transition team and House Democrats includes $6 billion to improve the U.S. broadband infrastructure, which is lacking in many rural and mountainous areas, particularly the West.
There aren’t a lot of details yet on how that $6 billion would be given out, but it doesn’t seem to encompass the tax breaks phone and cable companies were lobbying for. Even so, the wireless industry was cheering Thursday morning because a summary of the spending released by House Democrats calls for the money to be used on “broadband and wireless grants.”
Wireless companies were concerned that the money would be earmarked for cable and phone companies providing fiber to the home.
On Wednesday, an Obama adviser who’s been in charge of the broadband stimulus package indicated that industry and tech expectations about the broadband part of the package had gotten a bit out of control.
“The broadband piece of the Obama agenda is not going to be done solely in the economic recovery package,” said Blair Levin, a telecom analyst and former FCC chief of staff who’s been advising the campaign on how to structure its broadband plan. He was speaking at a tech conference on Capitol Hill.
Read the full article in Wall Street Journal here.
1 Comment
Ty Fowler
So far the democrats haven’t told the American people the truth about much. The dems always seem to be short on the details but in a huge hurry to get things passed. Giving tax breaks is a must in the cable business and all other small businesses. That is the only way to get the economy moving again. I don’t have much faith that these politicians are concerned about small businesses making a profit and putting more people back to work. We need to clean house in 2010.