The White House on Friday unveiled the recipients of approximately $795 million in broadband grants and loans that will come out of the $7.2 billion set aside in the stimulus package for broadband grants.
The 66 projects receiving money were selected by the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture, and will mainly deal with building out broadband infrastructure and providing the technology to public computing centers. Recipients have also provided $200 million in matching grants.
Awards range from a $448,000 grant/loan project to expand high-speed broadband service to Georgia's Sapelo Island to a $62.5 million grant intended to link regional public networks throughout the country.
With this announcement, the government has now awarded $2.7 billion to 260 broadband projects since December 2009, the White House said. President Obama is set to formally announce the most recent recipients on Saturday.
The $62.5 million project, proposed by a group of national research and education networking organizations, will be supplemented by $34.3 million in matching funds. It will be known as the United States Unified Community Anchor Network (U.S. UCAN), which will use the money to build an advanced 100 Gbit/s network backbone that will link regional networks like schools, libraries, community colleges, health centers, and public safety organizations.
The recipient of the second-largest award is Georgia's Wilkes Telephone & Electric Company, which will use the $48.1 million in grant/loan funds to build out a fiber to the home (FTTH), wireline, fiber-optic cable network to residents in Lincoln, Taliaferro, and Wilkes Counties. It is intended to support speeds in excess of 20 Gbps and could reach up to 20,300 people, 802 businesses, and 58 community institutions in the region.
The Massachusetts Technology Park, meanwhile, will take home a $45.4 million grant, which will be matched by $26.2 million in additional matching funds. The group will be building out 1,300 miles of new fiber to residents and businesses in Western Massachusetts, which MPT estimates will benefit 1 million people, 44,000 businesses, and 700 community institutions.
The awards are going to organizations and companies in 37 states, including six projects in Iowa. A $16.2 million grant to the Iowa Communications Network will upgrade an existing 3,000-mile network to provide 10 Gbps service in all counties, while $17.7 million to the Iowa Health System will upgrade the health system's fiber network, which connects more than 200 healthcare facilities. The four other projects will use a combined $35.9 million to provide FTTH service to specific communities throughout the state.
The city of Washington, D.C., meanwhile, will receive $17.5 million to improve broadband access at 190 community centers in economically distressed areas. Another $1.6 million will provide 1,000 new workstations at 24 libraries, two recreation centers, three public schools, and one community college library in D.C.
A full list of the recipients is available on the White House Web site.
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