JANUARY 25, 2010 By Stephen Hardy -- Fiber-optic technology proved popular once again in the latest round of U.S. rural broadband stimulus funding. At least nine of the 14 projects announced today will use fiber for middle-mile or last-mile networks.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today the 14 Recovery Act Broadband Infrastructure projects that will receive $309,923,352 through funding made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. An additional $3,551,887 in private investment brings the total to $313,475,239. Altogether, Congress awarded USDA $2.5 billion in Recovery Act funding to help bring broadband services to rural un-served and underserved communities.
This is the second major funding announcement. The first occured in mid-December (see "First broadband stimulus awards announced").
This most recent list of funded projects, part of the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP), includes:
- Alaska: Southwestern Alaska, United Utilities, $43,982,240 grant and $44,158,522 loan. The funding will provide middle-mile connectivity to 65 communities.
- Alabama: Butler, Butler Telephone Co., Inc., $3,892,920 grant. The funding will provide high-speed DSL broadband service to remote, unserved households within its rural service territory. The system is being built so that it can be “easily” upgraded to accommodate future services.
- California: San Joaquin, Tranquillity, and Fresno, Audeamus, $2,741,505 grant and $2,741,505 loan. The proposed project is a fiber-based broadband infrastructure for the unserved and underserved communities in this service area. A last-mile project, it will provide access to approximately 1,500 households, local businesses, and anchor institutions in the communities.
- Iowa: Four projects in the state received funding. (1) Meriden and Archer, C-M-L Telephone Cooperative Association, $1,519,225 grant and $1,519,225 loan, $1,525,315 in matching funds. Funding will provide services via a fiber-optic network to rural communities with high-speed Internet exceeding 20 Mbps. (2) Bennett, Delmar, and Lowden, F & B Communications, Inc., $1,609,162 grant and $1,628,588 loan. Funding will provide services via a high-speed fiber-optic network with speeds exceeding 20 Mbps. The system will allow for expansion at a future date. (3) Springbrook, LaMotte Telephone Co., $187,815 grant, and $187,815 loan. The funding will provide services from a 300-foot tower and WiMAX installation for wireless broadband service in the surrounding area.
- Kansas: Western Kansas, Rural Telephone Service Co., Inc., $49,588,807 grant and $51,612,842 loan. Funding will provide service in an area 99.5 percent unserved/underserved and provide a rural infrastructure required for economic stability, education and healthcare. The company is a cooperative and RUS partner on 32 other projects. It leads a team of seven companies with this shovel-ready project. 1% of the network is to be built in Nebraska.
- Tennessee: Northern Tennessee, North Central Telephone Cooperative, Inc., $24,715,709 grant and $24,964,000 loan. The funding will provide the necessary infrastructure to provide advanced voice, video, and data services that exceed 20 Mbps to remote and rural communities in the service area. 1% of the network is to be built in Kentucky.
- Louisiana: Morehouse Parish, Northeast Louisiana Telephone Company, Inc., $4,359,000 grant and $8,124,600 loan. Funding will provide an active Ethernet system with symmetrical speeds of 20 Mbps. The system will use buried fiber to the premises.
- Missouri: Ralls County, Ralls County Electric Cooperative, $9,548,908 grant and $9,548,909 loan. Funding for this project will provide a fiber-optic network to residential and commercial members and the underserved safety and anchor agencies in the service area. This is a State of Missouri demonstration project and non-proprietary data will be shared.
- North Dakota: Two projects in the state received funding. (1) Burleigh County; BEK Communications Cooperative, $1,986,473 grant and $2,016,571 loan; $2,016,572 in leveraged funds. The funding will provide fiber-to-the-premises broadband service to underserved homes and anchor institutions. This will aid business growth and support public safety in rural areas highly dependent on Internet business income. (2) Traill County; Halstad Telephone Co., $2,027,600 grant and $2,027,600 loan; $10,000 in leveraged funds. The funding will provide fiber-to-the premises broadband service to unserved homes and businesses in Traill County.
- Oregon: Marion County, Gervais Telephone Co., $314,430 grant and $314,430 loan. This project extends Gervais Telephone's existing fiber network by building out from the nearest fiber splice point through the funded service area. This project will provide broadband connectivity to residential and business end users, as well as to four anchor institutions.
- Virginia: Alleghany County, NTELOS Telephone Inc., $8,062,088 grant and $8,062,088 loan. The funds will provide broadband infrastructure to unserved and underserved homes, businesses, and critical community institutions in this rural county. A fiber-based project, it will enable work-from-home jobs and foster economic development, and improve health, education and public safety services to the county citizens.
The project awards announced today come on the heels of an announcement last week from the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that two fiber-based projects would receive funding via the NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).
The first of the newly funded projects is in Michigan. Merit Network, Inc. will receive a $33.3 million infrastructure grant, backed by an additional $8.3 million in matching funds, to build a 955-mile fiber-optic network through 32 counties in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The project also intends to directly connect 44 community anchor institutions and will serve an area covering 886,000 households, 45,800 businesses, and an additional 378 anchor institutions.
In North Carolina, MCNC will receive a $28.2 million infrastructure grant, augmented with an additional $11.7 million in matching funds and in-kind contributions, to build a 494-mile middle-mile broadband network passing almost half the population of North Carolina in 37 counties. The network will build new rings in the western and eastern regions of the state, which will connect to 685 miles of existing infrastructure in the urbanized central region, expanding the reach of the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), an established broadband service for community anchor institutions in the state.