MARCH 3, 2010 By Stephen Hardy -- Level3 Communications became the first “name” carrier to receive broadband stimulus money to enhance it fiber-optic network. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke yesterday announced 23 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act investments under the department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA's) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). Six of those grants went to Level 3.
Secretary Locke announced grants worth a total of more than $160 million. The awards will fund broadband access and adoption projects in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.
Of the $160 million, Level3 received $13.7 million. The company will supplement these funds with $4.2 million of its own money. The grants cover the addition of new access points to Level3’s network in six states. California will receive 11 new access points; Florida will get 7; Georgia, Kansas, and Tennessee will receive four each; and Texas will see the addition of 17 such points. All will be designed to support 50-Mbps to 10-Gbps links available to local Internet service providers (ISPs) on what the NTIA described as “an open and nondiscriminatory basis.”
Other BTOP infrastructure grants announced yesterday continued fiber’s run of success with the NTIA (see "Fiber dominates latest US rural broadband stimulus funds release" and "Fiber shines again in latest NTIA broadband stimulus announcements" for examples). They also underscored the appeal of open networks. The awards included:
- Georgia: The Columbia County Information Technology Department will receive $13.5 million, with an additional $4.5 million applicant-provided match, to build a 220-mile, county-wide fiber network to connect nearly 150 community anchor institutions and enhance healthcare, public safety, and government services throughout the region. The project plans to facilitate the creation of a high-capacity data center at the Medical College of Georgia, support a sophisticated county-wide traffic and water control system, enable 60 free Wi-Fi hotspots in public locations, and construct five wireless towers to enhance public safety communications as well as improve wireless communications capabilities throughout the region.
- Illinois: The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois will receive a $22.5 million grant which the board will match with an additional $6.8 million to build 187 miles of fiber-optic broadband infrastructure in Urbana, Champaign, and Savoy to provide high-speed connectivity to community anchor institutions and support fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services in four low-income neighborhoods. The project expects to provide speeds of at least 100 Mbps to directly connect 143 anchor institutions.
- Indiana: Educational Networks of America, Inc. earned a $14.3 million broadband infrastructure grant with an additional $4 million applicant-provided match to improve educational opportunities for an estimated 290,000 students and library patrons by deploying 560 miles of fiber that will deliver 100-Mbps connections to 145 public schools and libraries. In addition, the project expects to spur affordable broadband Internet service for as many as 200,000 households, 30,000 businesses, and 630 community anchor institutions by enabling local ISPs to connect to the project’s open network.
- Massachusetts: OpenCape Corp. will receive a $32 million grant, to be supplemented with an additional $8.3 million applicant-provided match, to deploy 350 miles of fiber and over 100 miles of microwave broadband network links in the Cape Cod region, directly connecting more than 70 anchor institutions. These anchors would receive 100-Mbps service.
- Oregon: The Lane Council of Governments will $8.3 million, which the council will match with an additional $2.1 million, to upgrade an existing fiber-optic backbone and deploy 124 miles of fiber-optic network to deliver broadband capabilities across three large, mostly rural counties and the Klamath Tribal region in Western Oregon. The project plans to provide 100-Mbps connections for more than 100 community anchor institutions.
- Puerto Rico: Iniciativa Tecnolégica Centro Oriental, Inc. was granted $12.9 million broadband infrastructure grant, with an additional $3.4 million applicant-provided match, to deploy a 515-mile network that will include both wireless and fiber connections. The project plans to directly connect nearly 250 anchor institutions. It will also facilitate new or improved broadband Internet access for local consumers, including up to 300 anchor institutions, 136,000 households, and 600 businesses and industrial centers, by enabling local service providers to connect to the project’s open network.
- Tennessee: DeltaCom, Inc. will receive $9.4 million, to be augmented with an additional $2.3 million from the carrier, to provide a 544-mile fiber-optic broadband network that will provide high-speed connections for more than 50 community anchor institutions in five Eastern Tennessee communities, from Chattanooga through Knoxville to Johnson City and Bristol. The project expects to spur more affordable broadband Internet access for over 34,000 households, 5,000 businesses, and 270 anchor institutions by enabling ISPs to connect to the project’s open network.
- Wisconsin: The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System was awarded a $5.1 million, with an additional $3.7 million applicant-provided match, to deploy more than 100 miles of fiber-optic infrastructure to provide broadband Internet connections for community anchor institutions, and enable last-mile broadband services throughout the Madison, Middleton, and Monona, WI, region. The project expects to directly connect nearly 100 community anchor institutions, including schools, public safety organizations, and a community college, at speeds of up to 10 Gbps.
- West Virginia: Hardy Telecommunications, Inc. earned a $3.2 million grant, which it will match with an additional $814,000, to build a 177-mile high-capacity fiber-optic network to Hardy County, WV, a sparsely populated region of the state with difficult terrain. The project intends to connect an estimated 35 anchor institutions as well as spur more affordable high-speed Internet service for up to 1,900 households and 190 businesses by enabling local ISPs to connect to the project’s open network.