New Hampshire - Fast Roads Open Access Network

Oswego County, NY officials are celebrating the award of a new $26 million New York State grant to bring affordable fiber access to long-underserved rural communities in the northwestern part of the state. Oswego County will own the finished open access network and lease the fiber to Internet Service Providers (SPs), including Empire Access.

The Arkansas State Broadband Office continues to leverage American Rescue Plan Act funds to drive affordable fiber access into underserved parts of the Natural State. Three funding rounds are winding their way to completion, as fiber connectivity is being made available to rural markets for the first time, with a heavy reliance on local cooperatives.

Volunteer Energy Cooperative in Birchwood Tennessee says it’s leveraging American Rescue Plan Act funding to expand affordable fiber access into long underserved parts of The Volunteer State. VEC has begun construction on a new fiber expansion plan that will bring affordable fiber access to nearly 300 homes in Birchwood thanks to a $615,617 ARPA grant.

The Maine Connectivity Authority continues to make steady inroads bridging the state’s long standing digital divide on the back of federal grants and a public private-partnership between Lincoln County and Consolidated Communications. In January, Fidium announced it was beginning construction on the project, which should bring fiber connectivity to 8,300 homes and businesses.

Cold Springs Rancheria of Mono Indians was among the applicants celebrating a winning grant application in the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) latest Federal Funding Account (FFA) announcement. The grant marks the eighth successful application by a Tribal nation in this program and another in a long list of community-focused projects led by public entities like municipalities.

Officials in Carver County Minnesota continue to make great progress expanding affordable fiber access to the county of 111,000 residents, thanks largely to their publicly-owned open access fiber network CarverLink and their partnership with Metronet. With the looming completion of its most recent $10.5 million expansion, CarverLink Fiber Manager Randy Lehs told ISLR they’re getting very close to their ultimate goal: making symmetrical gigabit fiber available to all locations county wide.