First Broadband Stimulus Funds to Middle Mile Projects, Libraries and Rural Last-Mile

WASHINGTON, December 17, 2009 – The broadband stimulus projects identified in a White House report issued Wednesday, and embargoed for release Thursday, include:

• The North Georgia Network Cooperative, $33.5 million to deploy middle-mile infrastructure to eight counties in northern Georgia and North Carolina
• The partnership between the for-profit ION in Albany, New York, and the Development Authority of North Country, a public benefit corporation, for a $39.7 middle-mile infrastructure grant in rural upstate New York
• The Biddleford Internet Corporation, a public-private partnership between the University of Maine and internet service providers, will receive $25.4 million to construct middle-mile infrastructure across rural Maine
• A public computer center to the Arizona State Library Archives and Public Records that will help 84 libraries enhance computing facilities that serve more than 75,000 users per week and more than 450,000 residents in total
• The Consolidated Electric Cooperative in North Central Ohio will receive a $2.4 million grant/loan to construct a 166-mile middle-mile network that will also connect 16 electric substations to support its smart grad technology initiative
• A last-mile grant to Rivada Sea Lion, an Alaska Native Corporation, to provide fourth-generation wireless to 30,00 residents in 53 subsistence-level communities in southwestern Alaska – the first broadband services for these Native Alaskans
• A last-mile grant to the Bretton Woods Telephone Company in New Hampshire for a fiber-to-the-home project, which will pass 386 households, 19 business and six community anchor institutions, and will allow two-way broadband of up to 20 Megabits per second (Mpbs)

Note: Brian Webster Consulting, a partner of Broadband Census Data (d/b/a BroadbandCensus.com, the sister company of Broadband Census News d/b/a BroadbandBreakfast.com), conducted the data and mapping services used to complete the grant application process for Rivada Sea Lion in Alaska, in conjuction with other consulting services.

For more information about services by Broadband Census Data, see http://broadbandcensus.com/broadband-mapping/, or contact Robert Sepe, Mapping Services, Broadband Census Data, at maps@broadbandcensus.com, or 919-467-5392.

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