New Hampshire

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Colorado and New Hampshire’s Initial Proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s “Internet for All” initiative. This approval enables Colorado and New Hampshire to request access to funding and begin implementation of the BEAD program—a major step towards closing the digital divide and meeting the President’s goal of connecting everyone in America with affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet service.

Fidium Fiber is now available to more than 7,600 homes and businesses in Berlin, Gorham, Randolph and Shelburne, NH. With the expansion of Fidium’s future-proof all-fiber network complete, residents can now connect to symmetrical multi-gig internet speeds and all the benefits that come with access to high-speed fiber connection. Fidium expansion in Berlin is part of a $90 million project by Consolidated Communications to bring fiber-to-the-home internet service to unserved locations in more than 35 towns in Carroll, Chesire, Coos, Grafton, Hillsborough and Sullivan counties.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has accepted New Hampshire’s Digital Equity plan. Using $525,034.00 from the State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program, New Hampshire created a plan aimed at addressing disparities in digital access, skills and affordability across the state.

Consolidated Communications’ latest public-private broadband partnership news is a bit different from some of the other public-private partnerships we’ve seen since federal legislators began making funding available for broadband buildouts during the COVID pandemic. The deal, pending completion of a challenge process, involves the town of Francestown, New Hampshire and funding from the state’s Broadband Matching Grant Initiative (BMGI). That program provides matching funds for projects that otherwise would be too costly for the network operator to undertake.

At least 13 states intend to undertake “nondeployment” projects as part of their funding under the $42.5-billion BEAD program, according to their initial proposals. The number of states that expect money left over after allocating funds for all unserved and underserved locations could be higher, and perhaps considerably so.

The draft New Hampshire Digital Equity Plan was created with partnership and collaboration at its core, as a joint effort between the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, the National Collaborative for Digital Equity (NCDE), and the Digital Equity Research Center at the Metropolitan New York Library Council.

Breezeline closed out construction projects in both West Virginia and New Hampshire.