Federal officials on island to verify IT&E’s use of ARRA grant

 Officials of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration under the U.S. Department of Commerce are currently on island to look at the progress of the multi-million grant it awarded IT&E to increase broadband services in the Marianas.

“We’re basically going around Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands in order to look at the investment that we’ve made through the ARRA grant with the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, called BTOP for short,” said Barbara Brown, NTIA federal program officer.

Brown and Norman Davis, contractor support for BTOP, met with IT&E representatives who gave them a tour of the company’s operations center, physical sites, and remote stations and gave them updates about IT&E’s overall plan throughout the grant program.

Brown said that they awarded IT&E with over $10 million grant, including the $2 million matching funds, “to provide broadband to unserved and underserved portions of the community.”

She said that what IT&E did “built out the broadband infrastructure with fiber and microwave in order to provide a much more robust connectivity.”

“They’re working steadily and on pace in order to complete in time and they’ve done a fantastic job,” Brown told Saipan Tribune.

The visiting officials went to visit on Oct. 18 beneficiaries of IT&E’s infrastructure upgrades on Saipan such as the Northern Marianas College and various youth centers.

House Vice Speaker Felicidad Ogumoro (Cov-Saipan) and Rep. Edmund S. Villagomez (Cov-Saipan) met with the group at the Garapan Community Development Center on Tuesday.

Brown said it’s “incredibly exciting” to see the Garapan Community Development Center facility being able to offer broadband services to students and allowing them to take advantage of after-school tutorials and digital literacy programs, among others.

“It’s just a tremendous opportunity to bring the borders of the world down and everyone can be on the same playing field,” she said. “They have the opportunity in front of them.”

Yesterday, IT&E brought the visitors to their site improvements on Tinian. They’re scheduled to fly to Rota today and in Guam on Friday, according to marketing coordinator Brad Ruszala.

Ruszala noted that the project is more than just increasing broadband services to the islands of Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guam.

“It’s increasing awareness and helping educate the public and engage anchor institutions on the importance of broadband access,” he said.

Ogumoro deems the ARRA grant-funded project as an opportunity to offer more services and opportunities that are “strong and accessible” for the entire community, particularly the youth.