The Merging of Telecommunications Policy and Science Policy Through Broadband Stimulus Funding

Abstract

The Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program was seen as a historic attempt by the Obama administration to bring broadband access to the underserved or unserved communities of the US while also investing capital into many of the economically hard hit companies and regions that support such technological development. Expectations for the first Notification of Funding Availability were quite high. However, conflicting belief systems and viewpoints about the role of large scientific institutions in the aid public development led to disillusionment and conflict. The authors use policy and discourse analysis to break down the situation and highlight the key differences that caused it to arise. This paper analyzes these differences and their foundational roots in an attempt to understand the basis of this conflict and what could be done to correct the situation in future notifications.