Federal Register: August 12, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 154)
DOCID: fr12au09-41 FR Doc E9-19326
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Docket ID: [Docket No. 0908061222-91222-02]
RIN ID: RIN 0660-ZA29
NOTICE: NOTICES
DOCID: fr12au09-41
DOCUMENT ACTION: Notice of Funds Availability; clarification.
SUBJECT CATEGORY:
State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program
DATES: NTIA will accept applications until August 14, 2009, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET).
DOCUMENT SUMMARY:
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce, publishes this Notice to provide clarification of the information requirements for State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program awardees stated in the Notice of Funds Availability and Solicitation of Applications (Notice) published on July 8, 2009.
SUMMARY:
State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
On July 8, 2009, NTIA published a Notice in
the Federal Register to announce the availability of funds for the
State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program pursuant to the
authority provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009 (Recovery Act), Public Law 1115, 123 Stat. 115 (2009) and the
Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA), Title 1, Public Law 110385, 122
Stat. 4096 (2008).\1\ The Technical Appendix of the Notice directs
awardees to provide a timeline for anticipated dates of data delivery,
including the provision of a substantially complete set of the
following information to NTIA regarding each provider's service area no
later than February 1, 2010: broadband service availability by service
address and by shapefile for wireless services; residential broadband
service pricing based on average revenue per end user and weighted
average speed; broadband service infrastructure based, specifically
lastmile and middlemile connection points; and a listing of community
anchor institutions.\2\ The Technical Appendix also includes a
description of the specific technical formats to be used when
submitting the data. In addition to the information the Technical
Appendix requires to be provided, the Notice requires applicants to
provide a comprehensive description of plans to obtain all data
required under the Technical Appendix regarding service provided by
commercial or public providers as part of the application to be submitted between July 14, 2009 and August 14, 2009.\3\
\1\ State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program, Notice
of Funds Availability and Solicitation of Applications, 74 FR 32545 (July 8, 2009) (Notice).
\2\ Notice at Technical Appendix A, 74 FR at 3255732564. The
Notice also states that applicants must demonstrate that they have
the ability to provide a substantially complete set of all broadband
mapping data on or before February 1, 2010 and complete the data
collection on or before March 1, 2010. See id. at 32552, 32553. \3\ Notice, 74 FR at 32552.
Technical Appendix Clarification
This Notice is intended to clarify the exact level of detail
required by the information collection set forth in the following sections of the Technical Appendix.
1. Broadband Service Availability in Provider's Service Area
(a) Availability by Service AddressService Associated With Specific Addresses
In lieu of reporting addressspecific data, Awardees may satisfy
the requirements of this section of the Technical Appendix by providing [[Page 40570]]
NTIA, for each facilitiesbased provider of broadband service in their
state, a list of all census blocks of no greater than two square miles
in area in which broadband service is available to end users, along
with the associated service characteristics identified in the Technical
Appendix. For those census blocks larger in area than two square miles,
Awardees must provide NTIA, for each facilitiesbased provider of
broadband service in their state, either the addressspecific data as
described in the original Notice or a list of all street segments with
address ranges in such census blocks, as contained within the U.S.
Census Bureau's TIGER \4\/Line Files or such other database of at least
equivalent granularity, in which broadband service is available to end
users, along with the associated service characteristics identified in
the Technical Appendix. Awardees are not required to report the 11
fields of data expressly denominated as ``End User'' fields in the
Record Format chart. Additionally, Awardees are not required to provide
Maximum Advertised Downstream or Maximum Advertised Upstream Speed at
the address level and may satisfy this requirement by providing such
speeds across each service area or local franchise area, by Metropolitan or Rural Statistical Area.
\4\ Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing
(TIGER) is available at http://www.census.gov.
(b) Availability by ShapefileWireless Services not Provided to a Specific Address
With respect to the ``Availability Area Shapefile Details,'' item 4 will be satisfied if each polygon indicates the subscriber broadband service authorized maximum downstream and upstream speed available. 2. Residential Broadband Service Pricing in Provider's Service Area (a) Average Revenue per End User and Weighted Average Speed
Awardees are not required to report average revenue per end user. Awardees must satisfy the remaining conditions of this section, provided that such data may be reported across a provider's service or local franchise area, by Metropolitan or Rural Statistical Area. 3. Broadband Service Infrastructure in Provider's Service Area (a) LastMile Connection Points
Awardees are not required to report the data identified in this section. Nevertheless, to the extent an Awardee is unable to reasonably verify the network service area availability data required under Section 1 of the Technical Appendix by other means, the Awardee should be prepared to conduct verification by reference to the first points of aggregation in the networks (serving facilities) used by facilities based providers to provide broadband service to end users, as described in this section of the Technical Appendix.
Clarification With Respect to Use of Data
NTIA intends no changes to the use of data collected hereunder,
except to the extent that the clarifications and deferrals provided in
this Notice may affect the type and level of detail of the data
reported, or as otherwise expressly provided in this Notice. In light
of these clarifications and deferrals, NTIA intends to identify all
broadband providers by name on the broadband map, rather than leaving
such identification to the discretion of the provider.\5\ Thus, an
addressspecific search of the map shall identify the names of all
providers whose service is available in the corresponding census block or street segment.
\5\ In light of the clarification regarding reporting of
availability data at a census block or street segment level rather
than street address level, the definition of ``Confidential
Information'' in section III of the Notice published on July 8,
2009, shall no longer include the identification of a service
provider's specific Service Area. A service provider's ``footprint'' will likewise no longer be included in the definition of
``Confidential Information.'' Notice, 74 FR at 32549.
With respect to nondisclosure agreements between broadband service providers and awardees (see Notice Section V(B)), NTIA expects awardees to enter into such agreements upon the request of the service provider. Further, NTIA will condition its disclosure of Confidential Information to the FCC or other Federal agencies upon the agency's agreement to treat the data as confidential as provided in the Notice and as otherwise consistent with applicable law.
All other requirements provided in the Notice published on July 8, 2009, remain unchanged.
Dated: August 7, 2009.
Lawrence E. Strickling,
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information.
[FR Doc. E919326 Filed 8709; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 356060P
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Anne W. Neville, Program Director, State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW., Room 4716, Washington, DC 20230; by telephone at (202) 4824949 or via electronic mail at broadbandmapping@ntia.doc.gov. Information about the State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program can also be obtained electronically via the Internet at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants.