New Hampshire’s $90 Million Broadband Build Passes Halfway Mark

Jan. 14, 2025 – New Hampshire has connected 28,000 new addresses with funding provided by the Capital Projects Fund run by the U.S. Treasury, the state's Department of Business and Economic Affairs announced on Monday.

BEA Commissioner Taylor Caswell called it an “historic investment” with “significant” results. As of December 2024, “well over 1,000 miles of fiber was installed, much of it in rural towns,” with a few exceptions, Caswell said.

The state was given $90 million in 2022 to expand fiber optic access to 48,016 homes and businesses in unserved and underserved communities. The expansion covers 115 municipalities.

Two companies are contracted under the program. The state awarded New Hampshire Electric Cooperative $50 million to connect 23,259 addresses, while Consolidated Communications, for $40 million, handles the remaining 24,757. The plan’s completion deadline is Dec. 31, 2026.

New Hampshire is slated to receive $191 million through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program to further expand fiber access. The goal is to connect every business and household in the state to fiber or an alternative technology where fiber is too costly to deploy.