According to a statement by the USDA's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Uncle Sam will be consolidating the two remaining broadband stimulus funding rounds into one. According to the government, they're merging the funding rounds "to increase efficiency and better accommodate applicants." The government also issued a fifteen-day RFI requesting feedback from bidders aimed at improving the application process. So far, about 2,200 different companies and organizations have put in bids for the $7.2 billion in available funding, making two additional funding rounds a little silly for the volume of demand, versus the limited funding available.

As we explored last week in detail, Verizon appears to be pausing in their FiOS deployment in order to recoup some of the money in markets they've already deployed the service. One of the cities impacted by that pause is Boston, which is wondering where FiOS is given Verizon's struck citywide franchise deals with Philadelphia, New York, and Washington DC. Verizon spokesman Phil Santoro tells the Washington Post that the delay is based solely on the company's capital spending priorities, and that Boston will get their turn eventually. Santoro then hints to the Post that Boston simply isn't FiOS material: story continues..

As we've been exploring, both AT&T and Verizon absolutely despise Google. Why? Because the company represents an Internet future where phone companies are relegated to "dumb pipe" network operators, and more innovative and adaptable companies wind up making a killing in the content and service business. Given their interest in protecting their positions of power created from generations of government-pampered monopoly, both AT&T and Verizon have taken every opportunity to attack Google.

Google's no saint, but most of these baby bell attacks border on incoherent idiocy.

If you've paid attention, you know the modern "network neutrality" debate took off in 2005, when then AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre proudly, though dumbly, proclaimed that Google got a "free ride" on his network. According to Ed, this unfairness could only be rectified by charging companies who already pay for bandwidth money to ensure their traffic reaches AT&T consumers quickly. Such a bizarre statement obviously resulted in fear that phone companies planned to act as trolls under the metaphorical Internet bridge, grumpily extorting passers by. That created a desire by content companies and consumers for laws that would prevent this from happening.

If you recall, back in May Time Warner Cable tried to force a bill through the North Carolina legislature that would have banned towns and cities from wiring themselves with broadband. Specifically, Time Warner Cable lobbyists were targeting a handful of new fiber to the home projects in the state in places like Wilson, where users can now get FTTH service that far exceeds Time Warner's aging DOCSIS 1.1 technology. The bill ultimately failed, thanks in part to heightened attention from consumers already annoyed by Time Warner Cable's efforts to impose metered billing, though dozens of such bills have already been passed in other states. The company's key Democratic political ally for the bill in North Carolina, who at the time seemed remarkably oblivious about his own bill, has now resigned under a cloud of controversy surrounding his strangely robust campaign finances for a non-election season.