Feds suspend big grant for fiber-optic Internet lines in Colo. after politicians and rural telcos complain

A federal agency has suspended $100 million in funding for a quasi-governmental Internet service provider " amid operational concerns and criticism that it was building redundant fiber optic lines in Colorado," Jeremy Jojota of KUSA-TV in Denver reports. Eagle-Net was getting the money from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to run fiber to "underserved communities throughout Colorado."

A Dec. 6 letter from NTIA to the company "indicates Eagle-Net did not follow through with environmental assessments and did not demonstrate it properly secured federal permits," the station reports. "Some members of Congress and rural telecommunication companies have been voicing concern Eagle-Net has been spending tax dollars to build fiber-optic lines in communities where there are already long-established fiber optics." The company said it was working to get NTIA the requested information. (Read more)