[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 154 (Wednesday, August 12, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40569-40570]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-19326]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

[Docket No. 0908061222-91222-02]
RIN 0660-ZA29


State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program

AGENCY: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 
U.S. Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Funds Availability; clarification.

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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.

DATES: NTIA will accept applications until August 14, 2009, at 11:59 
p.m. Eastern Time (ET).

ADDRESSES: All applications must be submitted through the online 
Grants.gov system no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on August 14, 2009, as 
more fully described in the Notice published on July 8, 2009.

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) 482-4949 or via electronic mail at 
[email protected]. 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.

SUPPLEMENTARY 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 111-5, 123 Stat. 115 (2009) and the 
Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA), Title 1, Public Law 110-385, 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 
last-mile and middle-mile 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\
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    \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 32557-32564. 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.
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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 Address--Service Associated With Specific 
Addresses
    In lieu of reporting address-specific data, Awardees may satisfy 
the requirements of this section of the Technical Appendix by providing

[[Page 40570]]

NTIA, for each facilities-based 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 facilities-based provider of 
broadband service in their state, either the address-specific 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.
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    \4\ Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing 
(TIGER) is available at http://www.census.gov.
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(b) Availability by Shapefile--Wireless 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) Last-Mile 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 
address-specific search of the map shall identify the names of all 
providers whose service is available in the corresponding census block 
or street segment.
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    \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.
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    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. E9-19326 Filed 8-7-09; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3560-60-P