NTIA grants ten broadband stimulus awards

The National Telecommunications and Information Agency yesterday awarded a substantial chunk of the $1.4 billion in funds made available to the organization for distribution in Round 1 of the broadband stimulus program.

Ten grants totaling $357 million were announced, with the majority of funding going toward six broadband infrastructure projects.

The grants for infrastructure projects went to:

• North Florida Broadband Authority- $30.1 million for a 1200-mile fixed wireless broadband network connecting more than 300 community anchor institutions
• Zayo Bandwidth- $25.1 million for a 626-mile fiber network in Indiana to interconnect Ivy Tech Community College campuses with 42 other colleges and universities that already are interconnected
• Keystone Initiative for Network Based Education and Research- $99.5 million to build a 1700-mile fiber research and education network in Pennsylvania to connect 60 community anchor institutions
• Executive Office of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania- $28.8 million to increase Internet connection speeds for community anchor institutions and underserved areas by adding a 649-mile Ethernet backbone and 612 miles of fixed wireless links 
• Executive Office of the State of West Virginia- $126.3 million to expand the state’s existing microwave public safety network and add about 2400 miles of fiber
• State of Wisconsin Department of Administration- $22.9 million to connect libraries, schools and community colleges to an existing high-speed network by deploying 203 new fiber miles

Also awarded were three grants for public computing centers and one for sustainable broadband adoption. The NTIA began announcing awards for Round 1 of the broadband stimulus program in December but still has more funds yet to award.

An NTIA spokeswoman told Connected Planet yesterday that the organization would make all remaining awards for Round 1 “in the coming weeks.”