What Broadband Projects are in Line for Stimulus Funding?

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In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus package, Congress appropriated $7.2 billion for broadband grants, loans, and loan guarantees to be administered by the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The deadline for submissions was earlier this year.

Now, you can to find what projects were submitted.

, a consulting company, downloaded the data to see what it could find out about the proposals.

First of all, $28 billion in requests was submitted for $7.2 billion in funding.

Other observations include:

  • 2,186 applications were received
  • The average application size was $12.7 million, but the median application size was $2.7 million
  • Alaska had the largest total dollar amount requested, at $1.3 billion
  • The largest application was from RADgov, a proposal to build and connect computer learning centers in underserved communities across the US for $938 million
  • The top 10 states requesting the most money were California, Florida, Colorado, Alaska, New York, Texas, Virginia, Missouri, Maryland, and Illinois.
  • The top 10 states requesting the most money per capita were Alaska, the District of Columbia, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Hawaii, Vermont, Colorado, New Mexico, and Maryland.

While a number of the top 10 per capita states actually are laggards in terms of broadband availability, "three of the top 10 states ranked on funding requests per capita are in the top 10 for actual broadband performance: Rhode Island, the District of Columbia, and Maryland," the group said. "These are all densely populated areas with meaningful broadband competition."

Awards for this first round are expected to be announced in November.

"It will be interesting to see how the process plays out – if awards will be made to a few large, pork barrel projects or if dollars will be carefully allocated to the rural states and areas where broadband economics break down and private sector competition is likely to remain weak," Endeavour concluded.

Dani AI

Generated

As noted, the public application listing is the place to start, but that raw dataset needs interpretation. The practical question for network teams and local governments is not just who applied, but which proposals were actually selected, what area they cover, and what operational and compliance obligations follow an award. The notes below show how to turn the application list into usable intelligence.

Quick checklist for parsing applications and awards:

  • Filter the table for awarded projects and compare “requested” versus “awarded” amounts to see where scope was reduced.
  • Inspect the geographic description (service area, census blocks or maps); if boundaries are vague, request GIS/shapefiles from the applicant or the program office.
  • Note technology type (fiber, fixed wireless, satellite) and whether anchor institutions are explicitly included—those clauses often determine build order.
  • Look for demonstrated cost share or matching funds and evidence of permitting/environmental readiness; projects with those items were more likely to move quickly from award to construction.

Practical steps for networking teams and municipalities:

  • Line up permits, pole/ROW agreements, make-ready estimates and contractor prequalification now—awardees hire local subcontractors fast.
  • Prepare for federal construction compliance (prevailing-wage and environmental reviews), detailed reporting, and audit trails; include that overhead in cost estimates.
  • For network ops, clarify how the awardee will handle addressing, interconnection (BGP/static routes), QoS, and security (edge firewalls, management access) before construction starts.

Caveats and verification:

  • Demand outpaced available funds, so many good applications were not funded; award lists and subsequent program notices are the authoritative records of what moved forward. To verify deployment later, cross-check award notices with state broadband office releases, public procurement records, and mapping/deployment datasets used by regulators.
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