Sometimes I wonder about rules and unintended consequences. There are a lot of rules that almost relate to broadband that seem to cost a lot of time and money – such as the Minnesota Telecommunications Bill, right of way, common carrier status, tower permission, cable franchising… OK they more than almost relate to broadband – but they are rules that were designed for another purpose that have been made to fit broadband and they don’t always fit like a glove.
Well news from Geoff Daily on Hiawatha Broadband’s status with the ARRA funding reminds me of a similar kind of rule that has been handed down for broadband. I don’t know if that’s the case but it just feels a little like it.
According to Geoff, Minnesota-based Hiawatha Broadband has been having trouble applying for ARRA funding. Geoff described the problem succinctly…
The reason Hiawatha couldn’t reapply was due to an onerous rule in the BIP program through which RUS required all applicants to share the details of all their contracts with all their suppliers. The problem Hiawatha faced is that as a provider of TV service they have a number of contracts with content providers that have strict non-disclosure rules. So by asking them to reveal the details of those contracts, RUS was basically saying that to apply to the second round of the stimulus Hiawatha had to break the law and/or risk the future of their company.
Now, you’d think a rule as onerous as this would’ve been addressed publicly, and it was. RUS was asked directly about it during a public workshop. Their response was that others had applied with no problem so it can’t be that big of a deal. Well that means they’re either being ignorant or unfair.
Gary Evans of Hiawatha Broadband has written a letter of complaint to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. It will be interesting to see what comes of it. Hiawatha has a very good reputation for bringing broadband to rural areas. They were featured in Benton Foundation web conference on broadband best practices last May and won a Blandin Minnesota Community Broadband Award in 2008.
