Last week was the deadline for companies, non-profits and other institutions to apply for a first round of stimulus funds that are earmarked for building out broadband access to underserved areas. Today, the government agencies involved said 2,200 applications were received, requesting a total of $28 billion in funding. Release.
Unfortunately, only $4 billion will be available in the first round, meaning a lot of requests will be denied. It’s a little unclear at this time who all applied for the funding, but the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) said it will post a searchable database online containing summaries of all applications received. It did say that applications came in from a wide range of entities, including companies, public safety organizations, universities and nonprofits. A number of companies have already confirmed they have applied, including Clearwire and TowerStream.

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