Experience and expertise give ISPs an edge in hunt for federal rural broadband subsidies

21 June 2019 by Steve Blum
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Salinas ag tech summit 13jul2018

The federal agriculture department’s ReConnect program is new. It supplements an older program that wasn’t much use in California. We’re hopeful this new version will be better for us. But we won’t know until we see results. Grant money will be awarded on a competitive basis, with the first grant application deadline last month, and windows for grant/loan combinations and pure loans coming up.

On paper, it’s easier for Californian projects to qualify – e.g. projects submitted by private, for profit ISPs, which we have, as opposed to co-ops and similar, which we don’t so much. USDA grant applications are different from what we’re used to with California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grants. The application requirements tend to be more technical, and the review more objective.

Sometimes that’s good, sometimes not.

When an Internet service provider asks me if they should apply, I have three gating questions:

  • Do you have GAAP compliant financial statements? Not can you put them together if you had to, but could you give those to me right now if I asked?
  • Do you have someone in your organisation with a four-year engineering degree?
  • Have you applied for a federal telecoms grant in the past?

If the answer to all three questions is no, then you’re going to have a harder time meeting the application requirements. The USDA isn’t big on do-overs. They run applications through an initial screening – which is partly automated – and kick out the ones that aren’t up to spec in their judgement.

So the companies and other organisations that have been successful in the past have been the ones that submit financial and technical detail that complies with USDA’s standards. Qualified accountants and engineers have a significant edge. Some organisations have people who perform at that level without the qualifications, but that’s not the way to bet.

Experience also matters. The ones who win grants tend to be the ones who have learned to play the game. The odds of success on your first go-round are lower, but once you climb the learning curve, your chances increase. If you’re looking at this as a one-off opportunity, I wouldn’t be optimistic. But if you look at it as something that you’ll develop as part of your business model for the long term, then I think it’s worth the effort.