Comments on: Fed Grants Support Regional Broadband Nets

By: Gary Allen

Gary Allen — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:56:13 +0000

In its application to the NTIA for the grant, Motorola described the project as, "a public-private partnership between Motorola, public safety agencies, and broadband providers in the San Francisco Bay area." The involved cities and public safety agencies will not have to fund the $21.9 million that is not covered by the federal grant. Instead, Motorola says the money will come from "private funding," presumably from the broadband providers or other companies building the network. The final system will be built, maintained and owned by Motorola. Download (pdf) a application summary of the project here.

By: Old Radio Guy

Old Radio Guy — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:02:39 +0000

Motorola making a $21 million donation? I don’t think so.

The San Francisco Business Times newspaper story says:

“Local agencies have identified nearly $21.9 million in matching contributions for the project, which will serve 200 existing public safety sites and up to 50,000 public safety users serving roughly six million people.”

The Motorola press release on the system and grant

http://mediacenter.motorola.com/content/detail.aspx?ReleaseID=13202&NewsAreaId=2

doesn’t say a word about any ‘donation’.

Sounds to me like the local agencies are coming up with the $21.9 million.