Telecom lobbyists line up for piece of Obama stimulus

By Kim Dixon - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama's frequent use of the words "broadband" and "stimulus" in the same sentence has lobbyists lining up to get a piece of the expected largess in an economic stimulus plan.

Telecommunications companies are hoping to benefit from a variety of incentives under consideration, including a tax credit to target rural America, as lawmakers draft an economic recovery plan that could run about $600 billion.

Meanwhile, consumer groups want cheaper, more widely available high-speed, or broadband, networks as well as vouchers to help the poor buy laptops.

"We've heard from and spoken to virtually everyone involved in the industry including telecom, cable and satellite" companies, a congressional source working on the issue said.

Backers of expanded access to broadband, especially in rural and other under-served areas, are encouraged by Obama's view of the technology as a tool for economy recovery. The United States now ranks 15th among developed nations in broadband adoption, according to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.

"We're behind Latvia and Lithuania," said California Rep. Anna Eshoo, a Democrat who is refining a plan she submitted to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi before the election. "I'm very excited about the prospects that we will have in the stimulus package a plan for building out broadband."

Obama, who famously used the Internet to mobilize millions of voters and raise record-breaking amounts of money in the election, recently cited Internet expansion as one of several infrastructure priorities to create jobs.

"The goal is to revitalize rural America by bringing high-tech jobs to replace those lost in manufacturing," said Derek Turner, research director at Free Press, a reform group that introduced its own $44 billion investment plan this week.