California and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) continue to heavily invest in state efforts to expand affordable Internet access, and bolster digital equity, inclusion, and education programs to ensure freshly-connected communities are able to make the most of it.

According to a new announcement by the CPUC, the agency has freshly approved $14.7 million in California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account funding for four fiber-optic broadband projects in rural Northern California.

The agency says it approved another $3.4 million in CASF Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia grants supporting broadband planning and coordination efforts across 16 counties, and nearly $200,000 in Digital Divide Grant Program funding to expand access to technology, devices, and digital literacy training in underserved communities.

The state’s latest $18.2 million in digital literacy and access grants are one small part of California’s landmark $6 billion Broadband for All Initiative, which prioritized closing the digital divide in all of California’s 58 counties, and recently culminated in the launch of the state’s new $3.2 billion Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative (MMBI).

The CPUC states that its $14.7 million in CASF broadband infrastructure grants will be doled out to Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications – a wholly owned subsidiary of Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative (PSREC) for four projects around the Golden State. Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications will own the finished networks across all four projects:

A California telecom and electrical cooperative says the state’s ongoing last-mile broadband grant program will help deploy affordable fiber to multiple communities across four heavily unserved and underserved California counties.

Back in July, Imperial, Lassen, and Plumas Counties were the latest to receive broadband expansion grants courtesy of California’s $2 billion Last Mile Federal Funding Account Grant Program (FFA). The program, part of a broader $6 billion California “Broadband For All” initiative, is aimed at boosting broadband competition and driving down costs statewide.

Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications (PST), a subsidiary of Plumas-Sierras Rural Electric Cooperative (PSREC) has been a major early winner in ongoing California FFA awards. The cooperative says it’s poised to receive roughly $67 million in FFA grants to expand affordable broadband to roughly 6,600 unserved and underserved locations across Sierra, Plumas, Lassen, and Nevada Counties.

Image

California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently announced another $86 million in FFA grants that will help fund broadband expansion across 21 different California towns, cities, counties, and tribal communities. One Plumas grant award is for a $14.5 million project to bring fiber to 834 unserved locations and 1,169 unserved residents across Plumas County.