RUS makes eleven broadband stimulus grants

Fiber, wireless and DSL projects were included among 11 additional broadband stimulus awards announced this week by the Rural Utilities Service. The projects, totaling $277 million, included a mixture of grants and loans.

Recipients included:

• Smithville Telephone Company- $37.8 million loan for broadband connectivity in Indiana
• Iowa Rural Wireless Broadband- $3.8 million loan
• Mountain Rural Telephone Cooperative Corp.- $39.8 million loan and a similar size grant for fiber connectivity
• Allen’s Cable- $3.6 million loan and $3.5 million grant for fiber to the premises in Louisiana
• LBH, LLC- $16.7 million loan and similar size grant to expand an existing broadband network in Louisiana
• Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group- $6.3 million loan and similar size grant
• Unionville, Missouri FTTP Project- $5.1 million loan and identical grant
• Western New Mexico Telephone Company- $11.5 million grant for last mile broadband services
• Baca Valley Telephone Company- $1.6 million loan and similar size grant for high-speed DSL in New Mexico
• Sandy Broadband Infrastructure Project- $374,500 loan and similar size grant for wireless Internet in Oregon
• Southern Texas Broadband Infrastructure Development and Adoption Project- $40 million loan and $38.5 million grant

Both organizations began making awards in Round 1 of the broadband stimulus program in December, but still have substantial funds available for award.

The agencies also have begun accepting applications for Round 2, which will operate under different guidelines.
An RUS spokesman told Connected Planet today that the agency expected to complete Round 1 awards by the end of this month.