[imgbelt img=broadband.jpg]You can now see who in your community has applied for broadband money from the stimulus fund. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has put a summary of all 2200 applications on line. You can find a searchable list here.  You can look at all the applications here.  These are the applications for NTIA’s share of the $7.2 billion in stimulus money meant to spread broadband into unserved areas, particularly in rural communities. In all, the applications ask for $28 billion.Telecompetitor.com has gone through the applications and has made several observations.  Like, “Rural telco last mile applications appear to be heavily weighted toward FTTH” (as in Fiber To The Home). “There are a significant number of companies intending to use broadband wireless for last mile access….”Telecompetitor also notes that Hughs Net wants $500 million to expand its satellite coverage. (There are several satellite proposals.) Rural phone carriers made applications, but CivSource finds that “Noticeably absent among the applicants were major telecommunications carriers, like AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. Some of the largest telecoms to file applications were Hughes Networks, Level 3 and EchoStar.”