Broadband stimulus money may spur partnerships for telecoms - Denver Business Journal:

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billion of federal stimulus money earmarked tobrinfg high-speed Internet access to unserveds areas of the United States. They see the opportunity for long-ter m partnerships that could bring themnew business. Broomfield-based Inc. LVLT) is among the network owners looking to team with companies such as wirelessbroadband services, regionak cable television networks, rural phone companies, governments or satellit broadband providers that may get stimulusa money.
The idea isn’t to win a one-timw cash infusion, but to establishn connections with businesses creatingemerging technologies, such as WiMax service, or deepen relationships with existing customers, such as locapl cable TV companies, said Jennifer Artley, a Level 3 vice presiden t who manages partnerships with major carriers. “Relationships are sticky,” she said. “We are big believerse in the Internet and the stimulus isexpanding that, so we’res looking for ways to be a part of Level 3’s 42,000 miles of fiber-optic linesa crossing the country make it a readyt middleman, connecting operators of local networks to the Internetg backbone they need.
Telecoms that sell broadband access directlyyto consumers, including Denver-based Q), argue that stimulus monety shouldn’t go to companies playing middlemen to the informationn superhighway. Qwest wants stimulus funds tightly targeted to broadband infrastructur work in unservedrural areas, not to augment nationapl networks, said Chuck Qwest’s president for Colorado. “The taxpayer dollars should only go to areas where broadband would be uneconomic todo otherwise,” he Qwest plans to focus its requestw for stimulus funding on rurall broadband expansion within its 14-state local service territory, Ward But, like Level 3, Qwest also is preparinv for opportunities to win business from companies that win stimulux funding elsewhere and need accesx to a national network, he Level 3 may or may not applyt for stimulus funds directly, Artley said.
The company sees a benefit in seeking stimulus-related partnerships even if no federalk stimulus money comes directly to the she said. “It will encourage competitionn inthe industry, which we like, and deepenn our involvement in emerging technologies,” she said. Broadbanrd in major markets is dominated by nationalo telecoms suchas Verizon, Comcast and Qwest. Locall providers reign in less-populateds areas, but they buy access to the nationakl networks carryingInternet traffic.
Level 3 has signal-boostintg stations at 60-mile intervals on its fiber optic-lines, and each one can be made into an on ramp to the AccessingLevel 3’s nationak network from one of thoss stations in a rural area can save another companh the expense of having to builsd connections into the nearest It’s not clear whether so-callee “middle mile” services can win broadband stimulus funding from the or the Departmen of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service. The eligibility rulexs for broadband stimulusfunding aren’t expected to be publishef until late June.
Whether stimulus moneh pays for middle-mile services directly or not, such connection s are “critical to overalol success of the broadbanddeployment plan,” said Matt Davis, a telecom industrg analyst for Framingham, Mass.-based research firm IDC, in a writtenb statement.. Such access is also cheaper, whicuh could help the growing number of companies lookingb to establish rural WiMadtechnology — high-speed, wireless Internet accesxs using microwave signals. That reality has prompted all sorts ofnew partnerships. Ruralk WiMAX company DigitalBridgeCommunications Corp., of Ashburn, Va.
, and the 1,500-member National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative recently teamed in stimuluss efforts. Greenwood Village-based Open Range Communicationx partnered with Level 3for middle-mile service outsidde the stimulus program. Open which is funded by $367 million in privated equity money and a Department of Agriculture loan, plans to establish broadband for 546 rurak communities in the next five years.