The biggest Internet service providers will dominate a $42.45 billion broadband grant program unless the Biden administration changes a rule requiring grant recipients to obtain a letter of credit from a bank, according to a joint statement from consumer advocacy groups, local government officials, and advocates for small ISPs.
The letter sent today to US government officials argues that “by establishing capital barriers too steep for all but the best-funded ISPs, the LOC [letter-of-credit requirement] shuts out the vast majority of entities the program claims to prioritize: small and community-centered ISPs, minority and women-owned ISPs, nonprofits, and municipalities.”
The rule is part of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program that’s being administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
This isn’t a broadband grant. It’s free money for corporations that currently hold an oligopoly on the ISP industry.
Over the years there have been several instances where ISPs like Comcast, received substantial government funding to expand and improve their networks. However, the ISPs largely failed to follow through on the network improvements and instead just pocketed the money.
This is how you wash federal money and turn it into campaign donations. There is no way our politicians will turn off that spigot.
With all the money the government has handed them over the years we could of have government run highspeed internet in most metro areas. Instead we get some of the worst speeds for the highest prices in the western world. Corporate welfare/socialism is just the best. Brutal fuck you capitalism for consumers though. Always.
But I thought Biden was against these big corporations!?!?
/s
The plutocracy impacts every candidate, not just the ones you don’t like.
well, I was optimistic but now we might still have the monopolies using the grants to line their pockets off the consumers by using our govt money.
Exactly what will happen and they won’t use to the grant money towards what it meant for.
It big grift and Biden gave it to them. Remember he is a centrist who caters to the rich.
Remember we paid for every home in America to have fiber optic internet in the 90s. They took the money, ran, and faced no consequences.
No different from the last time the government gave them billions of dollars for nothing.
Here in Seattle I have two options: Centurylink or Comcast. I would happily purchase a plan from a smaller company, but due to the duopoly we have here, I have no other choice.
Internet should be a public utility and owned by the local government.
Plenty of smaller ISPs are WISPs, wireless ISPs. Great for rural too, you just need line-of-sight. Look up if any serve your area
When the dust settles, it’ll be just like Ma Bell in 1975: There will be the “Internet Company” just like there was the Phone Company, with a probable ‘bonus’ of an extra “National Internet Corporation” modeled on the BBC.
Edit: I missed the part where municipalities in certain states are allowed to get LOCs due to state law, so the grant program would exclude ISPs directly owned by the municipality. To me that is a state issue rather than a fed issue, especially as the NTIA says it will waive the requirement on a case-by-case basis
I’m sorry except for the smallest WISPs (which wouldn’t qualify as broadband anyway), how does requiring a letter of credit from a bank represent a barrier? Carrier grade equipment is not cheap, nobody is paying is paying cash for it. So they should have a good relationship with a community bank anyway.
Go out and try to get one as a small ISP then come back and let us know how it went.
I actually worked at a small ISP that served a population of <10,000 a decade ago and we had no problem getting grants the last time Obama was handing them out
