Midco and local provider KwiKom were the big winners in the latest round of Kansas broadband funding announced Friday. KwiKom was awarded two grants totaling $1.9 million and Midco was awarded two grants totaling almost $1.8 million.
The state awarded a total of $10 million, which will be shared by 12 providers.
Brightspeed, which operates in 20 states, won $474,114. All the other awardees were local companies.
Awardees were quite generous in providing matching funds. All of them pledged to cover approximately 50% or more of total project costs.
The awards came through the state’s Broadband Acceleration Grant Program, a 10-year, $85 million program created in 2020 and aimed at making high-speed broadband available to Kansas communities. The buildouts funded in this round of the program will go toward buildouts in 14 counties.
“High-speed internet is foundational to thriving in the modern world,” said Joseph Le, Kansas interim broadband director.
Through the Broadband Acceleration Grant Program, he said, “we continue to see an increased need and community support for broadband buildout. Our office will continue our commitment to connecting and empowering all Kansans, no matter the region of the state in which they are located.”
Several of the awardees in this round also won funding in previous rounds of the program and in other Kansas broadband funding programs.
The full list of awardees in this round includes:
- Brightspeed
- Cunningham Communications Inc.
- GBT
- IdeaTek
- KanOkla Networks
- KwiKom
- Midco
- Nex-Tech
- Pioneer Communications
- Rainbow Communications
- TCW Broadband
- WTC
Additional details about the awards can be found in this press release.
Additional information about Kansas broadband, including links to state funding resources, previous awardees, state specific Telecompetitor coverage and more, can be found on the Telecompetitor Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
