House passes bill directing $1B toward wireless broadband grants: Open-access provisions remain, despite wireless industry’s opposition

The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation that makes at least $1 billion available in wireless broadband grants and keeps intact open-access provisions opposed by the mobile-phone industry.
Six billion dollars of the $825 billion economic recovery measure is earmarked to foster deployment of high-speed Internet service in unserved and underseved areas of the country. The broadband stimulus measure calls for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a Commerce Department unit that advises the president on tech policy and manages federal government spectrum, to oversee a $2.8 billion broadband grant program. Wireless broadband grants would comprise $1 billion of that funding level. The remainder of the $6 billion is expected to be administered by the Rural Utilities Service’s broadband loan program.
The House Appropriations Committee, like the Commerce panel, did not remove open-access provisions, as the wireless industry and others had suggested.
“Both committees approved draft economic stimulus legislation, leaving intact provisions that recipients of stimulus grant funds be required to follow buildout requirements, Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality guidelines and open-access requirements,” said Gigi Sohn president and co-founder of Public Knowledge. “The forward-looking actions by these committees are the first steps to enacting President Obama’s technology platform that will lead to putting Americans back to work, stimulating the economy and improving America’s competitiveness. . We look forward to working with the Senate on similar provisions.”
The Democratic-led Congress wants to get an economic stimulus bill to the president’s desk for signing by mid-February.