Winners Drop Stimulus Awards over Red Tape, USF Question Marks

摘要

A handful of companies have turned down loan awards under the Broadband nInitiatives Program, and officials in the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities nService are in negotiations to get the companies to stay in the program, a RUS nspokesman said. “Fewer than 10” of about 300 grant winners have turned down nawards, he said. Additional companies may end up turning down loans and grants, nWestern Telecom Alliance spokesman Derek Owens said. “We have many others nwho are still looking at them very closely,” he said. “I think once a lot of these ncompanies get into that final stage" of the grant process "they’re really cautious about nthat.”