Altice USA CEO says its quest for broadband grants is gaining steam

Outgoing Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei revealed the operator has already secured tens of millions in broadband grant awards this year, as it pursues as much as $1 billion in government funding to boost its fiber expansion plan. Goei indicated it has received around $50 million so far this year to help it reach between 40,000 and 45,000 locations. He added it continues to apply for grants “every week” and is hoping to score additional funding over the next 12 to 24 months to help it cover “a couple hundred thousand more” locations. The operator’s wins thus far include a $6 million Arizona Broadband Development Grant to cover 7,000 locations in La Paz and Coconino (AZ) counties; a $6 million grant from the state of West Virginia to cover more than 9,000 locations there; and a $4 million award to cover around 1,500 locations in North Carolina. It also scored $15 million from Louisiana’s Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities (GUMBO) program to serve more than 9,000 locations and  $12.6 million from Arizona’s Yavapai County to reach around 8,000 locations. Ultimately, Altice USA continues to ramp up its ongoing fiber overbuild of its cable footprint until 2024 to reach 1.6 to 1.8 million new passings.