Comcast comments could hurt city broadband stimulus plans

Another blow to Philadelphia’s bid for federal stimulus dollars to help bridge the digital divide may have come the way of a Center City skyscraper.

Comcast has filed controversial commentary that some speculate could hurt Philadelphia-based requests for broadband stimulus grants.

In a move seen elsewhere in the U.S., the Center City-based telecommunications giant submitted formal comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on three Philadelphia-based applications – each seeking a piece of $4.6 billion in broadband grants – including the infrastructure portion of the city’s Digital Philadelphia vision.

Local pundits say the move is intended to challenge Philly’s broadband proposals. Broadband activists, like Rutgers University Professor Todd Wolfson, say it is an attempt to suggest that the applications are ineligible for grants, which seek to provide money to areas “unserved” or “underserved” by broadband connectivity.

The NTIA requires that grants go to locations where the rate of broadband subscription is below 40 percent of households. Though broadband penetration is estimated to be as low as 50 percent in Philadelphia, Comcast’s actual coverage blankets higher percentages of the population.

Comcast submitted to the NTIA a summary of its coverage area and subscriber information in the Philadelphia region, Comcast spokesperson Sena Fitzmaurice tells Technically Philly.

“We would not describe it as a ‘challenge,’ we describe it as filing factual information,” she said in a telephone interview. “There was an opportunity to object, but this is just a straight description of where we provide service and where we don’t.”

Wolfson, though, says it’s about business competition. He points to a story published in October by Bloomberg, pinning Comcast Vice President David L. Cohen against proposals that undermine Comcast’s business.

“Those applications don’t qualify for funding primarily because they are applications to provide service in areas where there is already broadband service,” Cohen told the publication.

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City CTO: “We have a heck of a shot” for federal broadband stimulus money

From left to right: Doug Faith, Derek Pew, Bill Green, Allan Frank, Todd Wolfson.

Five known members of Philly’s technology community discussed the impact of Wireless Philadelphia, the city’s digital divide and its application for federal broadband stimulus dollars Tuesday evening.

Local technology leaders and policymakers agree that lessons learned from the failed initiative put the city in a unique spot to advance its technology foundations, and they are hopeful that the city is awarded federal grants for the Digital Philadelphia Broadband Initiative.

Read about the history of Wireless Philadelphia.

More than 75 business leaders, policymakers, academics and activists filed into the Connelly Auditorium at the University of the Arts’ Terra Hall to hear the panel discuss broadband policy in the city.

“There’s really no other municipal network that has quite the resonant experience, not only in the tech side of networks but of its downfalls,” said Derek Pew, CEO of Network Acquisition which now owns the Wireless Philadelphia assets.

“Something can happen. We’re in a unique place, where a large asset, history, experience and desire have come together.”

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NTIA extends broadband stimulus grant deadline

The City of Philadelphia has had a few extra days to perfect its application for the broadband stimulus grant.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced late last week that because of an influx of application uploads, the deadline was extended one week to August 20, this Wednesday, from August 14.

We reported on the City’s stimulus proposal in a long-form multimedia feature package last week.

The city hopes to nab some of $4.6 billion in broadband stimulus grants being provided by the Broadband Initiatives Program and Broadband Technology Opportunities Program set aside by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Lead by Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank, the city has developed a proposal that utilizes current city infrastructure to build and improve upon a hybrid mesh network that would connect city departments, public centers (like schools and libraries), and private institutions like businesses and universities.

The network is part of discussions that Frank calls his Digital Philadelphia vision, a conversation that he hopes will guide the next 10 years of technology innovation in Philadelphia. We first reported on Frank’s vision when he announced it at a Refresh Philly meeting in May.

Frank faces scrutiny for the vision following the failure of Wireless Philadelphia, former Mayor John Street’s initiative to bridge the digital divide with a free municipal-wide WiFi network.