Biden-Harris Administration Awards Nearly $50 Million to Expand and Strengthen Regional and National Internet Networks

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) commited nearly $50 million to four organizations to expand middle-mile high-speed Internet infrastructure in the following states:

• New Hampshire: The County of Grafton will use $12 million to develop the 222-mile County of Grafton middle-mile backbone through population centers by building new fiber optic cable to close gaps and leveraging existing infrastructure to reduce the cost of buildout.
• Tennessee: Built over four years, Blue Ridge Advisory Services Group will use $20 million to create a route that will be 155 miles of new fiber cable that significantly improves the existing Scott County Telephone Cooperative (SCTC) network architecture by creating 4 new rings, closes several unprotected laterals, spans across unserved areas, and interconnects (via a network-to-network interface NNI) with East Kentucky Networks (EKN).
• Virginia: Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corporation plans to construct approximately 130 miles of new, $16 million fiber to enable open-access middle-mile connectivity and enhance grant funds for local broadband providers and existing carriers.
• Wyoming: Visionary Communications plans to use approximately $1.3 million on an 11.5-mile project that will bring critical fiber backhaul to the main tower site feeding Oriva Hills, substantially increasing the capacity available which addresses the primary limitation of broadband availability and will be available for all last-mile providers to utilize.