12:20 PM NTIA waives home-grown purchasing clause on some broadband gear for the stimulus program

Dan Jones, Mobile Editor

June 29, 2009

1 Min Read
Buy American? Not if It's Broadband

12:20 PM -- The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has waived the "Buy American" clause "with respect to certain broadband equipment that will be used in projects funded under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP)," a.k.a. part of the stimulus package.

This possibly opens the way for suppliers like Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and ZTE Corp. (Shenzhen: 000063; Hong Kong: 0763) to get in on the recovery act.

As Unstrung has noted before, the "Buy American" clause on other government spending projects has a somewhat loose definition of what is and isn't Mom's Apple Pie anyway. For instance, Israeli company Alvarion Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: ALVR) recently won a supply contract for a $100 million WiMax contract in the U.S. (See Alvarion Lands Largest Gov't-Backed WiMax Deal.)

Alvarion actually got "Buy American" status approved for two of its base stations. This is because of a clause in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) program that allows Canadian, Mexican, and Israeli companies to apply for "Buy American" status.

The new waiver from the NTIA appears to open that field wider.

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung

About the Author(s)

Dan Jones

Mobile Editor

Dan is to hats what Will.I.Am is to ridiculous eyewear. Fedora, trilby, tam-o-shanter -- all have graced the Jones pate during his career as the go-to purveyor of mobile essentials.

But hey, Dan is so much more than 4G maps and state-of-the-art headgear. Before joining the Light Reading team in 2002 he was an award-winning cult hit on Broadway (with four 'Toni' awards, two 'Emma' gongs and a 'Brian' to his name) with his one-man show, "Dan Sings the Show Tunes."

His perfectly crafted blogs, falling under the "Jonestown" banner, have been compared to the works of Chekhov. But only by Dan.

He lives in Brooklyn with cats.

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