The first round of NTIA grants doled out to states to map U.S. broadband were notable more for who wasn't chosen than who was. Most consumer advocates have been talking about the fact that telco-tied Connected Nation wasn't among the first round of grant recipients. The group has been under fire for several years for being an ingenious telco-funded ploy to actually shine up broadband penetration stats while keeping carrier data out of the hands of independent auditors -- all under the guise of improving broadband mapping. Telecom blogger and muni-broadband watcher Craig Settles had this to say:According to the NTIA, those that did get mapping money were chosen by the NTIA's army of anonymous, industry-focused reviewers because the applications were "both fiscally prudent and serve as a model for others." Of course it's still early in the mapping-funding process, and there's millions in taxpayer funds that still need to be doled out. Connected Nation could still wind up winning big, given there's millions still to be doled out.