Brightspeed plans to expand fiber to 14,000 customers in Beaufort County, South Carolina by the end of 2023, and reach another 36,000 state customers in coming years, the company said Tuesday. Brightspeed’s network is in 20 states and includes ILEC assets that Apollo bought from Lumen. The deal recently got all state regulatory approvals but still needs an FCC green light (see 2206290041). Brightspeed earlier detailed fiber plans in several other states (see 2208100027).
New Mexico launched a $123 million broadband grant program with money from the American Rescue Plan Act, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said Wednesday. The Connect New Mexico Pilot Program will cover up to 75% of project costs for expanding networks in unserved and underserved areas, said the governor’s office: Local governments, tribal communities, schools, nonprofits, cooperatives and broadband service providers may apply. The pilot will precede the full Connect New Mexico program that requires administrative rulemaking, the office said. At least $70 million more state funding is coming for the next round expected in 2023, it said. The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion released a notice of funding opportunity for the pilot Wednesday, and will accept applications on a rolling basis in three waves with Sept. 23, Dec. 9 and Feb. 27 deadlines.
Google Fiber could soon expand fiber-to-the-home to more states, CEO Dinni Jain blogged Wednesday. The company is in talks with city leaders in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska and Nevada, said Jain. Google Fiber said in July it would expand to Mesa, Arizona. “These states will be the main focus for our growth for the next several years, along with continued expansion in our current metro areas,” said the CEO: But the company would “also love to talk to communities that want to build their own fiber networks.”
North Carolina awarded $30.8 million to expand broadband to 13,000 households and 582 businesses in 11 counties, Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said Monday. The state’s Department of Information Technology gave Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology grants to Charter Communications, French Broad Electric Membership Corp., RiverStreet Networks, Windstream and Yadtel/Zirrus. The grants were funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act. The department said it will share more details about applications and individual grant awards once it completes the review process and releases awards this month.
The California Public Utilities Commission is readying a state budget for $5 million in planning funds from NTIA for the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, CPUC Communications Division Director Rob Osborn told the California Broadband Council at a Friday virtual meeting. States must submit their planning budgets by Aug. 15. The $5 million is meant to cover costs required to create BEAD five-year action plans. The CPUC submitted its letter of intent to participate in BEAD July 1, Osborn said. All states and territories filed letters by the July 18 deadline (see 2207130047). Osborn believes California is in a “pretty strong position” compared with other states because of all its work on its $6 billion Broadband for All effort, he said. The California Department of Technology submitted its digital equity planning grant application July 11 and expects the state will receive funding in late September or early October, said Scott Adams, CDT deputy director-broadband and digital literacy: The state would then have one year to develop a digital equity plan.
Brightspeed plans to extend fiber broadband to 70,000 Wisconsin customers in 15 counties by the end of 2023, the company said Wednesday. The company earlier announced initial fiber builds for Pennsylvania, Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, Alabama, Texas, Virginia and North Carolina, and said it plans to announce more state plans in coming weeks. Brightspeed’s network includes ILEC assets that Apollo purchased from Lumen. The deal recently secured all state regulatory approvals but still needs an FCC greenlight (see 2206290041). AT&T and Louisiana plan a $19 million project to extend fiber to 9,800 homes, farms and businesses in 13 parishes, AT&T said Tuesday. “Extensive design and engineering work will begin immediately following the execution of a final agreement between AT&T and the state.” Louisiana this week announced $130 million total in Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities (GUMBO) awards using federal American Rescue Plan Act funding. The state expects to bring broadband to 66,000 households and small businesses in 50 parishes in the first GUMBO round, the state said. Other big winners included Star Communications ($28.2 million), Swyft Fiber ($25.7 million), Altice subsidiary CSC Holdings ($16.1 million), Charter Communications ($10.1 million) and Comcast ($7.9 million). “We have another $43 million in funds from the ARP we will award by October, and we are expecting an additional significant amount of federal funds from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that will be awarded next year to continue to address access, affordability and literacy,” said Gov. John Bel Edwards (D).
The Washington State Broadband Office delayed a notice of funding opportunity for its infrastructure acceleration grant (IAG) program, the state’s Commerce Department said Tuesday. The broadband office originally planned to release the NOFO in mid-June but now expects it will come out this fall, with award announcements likely in the first quarter of next year, the department said. The office “plans to use the time between now and the NOFO release in the fall to receive critical stakeholder engagement on a set of policy and procedure questions that are critical to the work we’re all doing,” said Commerce: It will send out questions for comment in “the next few weeks” and host a roundtable discussion in early fall.
Vermont awarded $48.8 million in broadband construction grants through the Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB), the Department of Public Service said Friday. Awardees included CVFiber, DVFiber, Maple Broadband and NEK Broadband, with the cash expected to cover buildout of more than 1,400 miles of fiber in 29 towns, the department said. VCBB has announced $100 million in awards since August 2021.
Ohio awarded $9.7 million to expand affordable broadband to 25,000 households in Cuyahoga County, a large urban area that includes Cleveland, said Lt. Gov. Jon Husted (R) Wednesday. The county will match the amount. Households will get internet for $15 monthly “and in some cases for free,” Husted’s office said.
The Treasury Department cleared broadband funding for four states under the American Rescue Plan’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund, the department said Thursday. Treasury OK'd $83.5 million for Kansas, $110 million for Maine, $95 million for Maryland and $68.4 million for Minnesota. The states’ projects are expected to connect about 83,000 homes and businesses, it said. States must submit plans to Treasury by Sept. 24.