Earthlink Leverages Broadband Stimulus Money for Middle Mile Network

Earthlink announced today that it has completed the second phase of a three-phase middle mile network construction project in Tennessee for which the company won a $9.4 million broadband stimulus grant.

The grant was awarded in March 2010 to DeltaCom, a competitive carrier that Earthlink acquired six months later. According to the terms of the award, Earthlink must contribute an additional $2.3 million to the project. Earthlink completed the first phase of the project -- including an overbuild of an existing diverse fiber optic route from Nashville to Knoxville and the addition of a new diverse fiber route from Knoxville to Chattanooga -- in March 2011. The second phase included deployment of a new diverse fiber route from Knoxville to Bristol. The final phase, targeted for completion in the third quarter of this year, will add five new ILEC interconnection points in Tennessee counties that are designated as underserved by Connected Tennessee, an independent non-profit organization involved in technology deployment, use and literacy. Earthlink said it will market its full suite of business communications services in these markets.