Four grants approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) from its Last Mile Federal Funding Account (FFA) will provide as much as $21 million in broadband funding to Contra Costa, Inyo, and Monterey counties.
The four grants will bring service to rural, suburban, and underserved communities. They will be executed by the California Broadband Alliance, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, and Stimulus Technologies.
The California broadband funding will expand high-speed broadband access to 1,752 locations. In all, they will impact approximately 64,000 households, small businesses and community institutions. The press release says the grants will include workforce opportunities and affordability commitments, such as low-cost broadband plans and participation in California Lifeline or successor affordability programs.
The four projects awarded California broadband funding in this round:
- Contra Costa County: Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA-West Contra Costa County Project and CCTA-East Contra Costa County Project).
- Inyo County: Stimulus Technologies (Inyo-5 Project)
- Monterey County: California Broadband Alliance (Surfnet-Salinas Project)
The FFA was established through California Senate Bill 156. To date, it has approved $1.23 billion in grants for 122 broadband projects in 58 counties. The press release says that two million people have benefited. Forty-seven entities in California have received broadband funding from the FFA for 7,500 miles of proposed fiber construction. The average project size is 37 square miles and has $10 million in grant funding.
“This program has been transformational, investing funds for broadband infrastructure projects across the state to provide high-quality service where it would otherwise not have been possible, bringing us closer to achieving our state’s Broadband For All objectives,” CPUC President Alice Reynolds said in a press release.
Two FFA grants were announced about a year ago. On January 31, 2025, the CPUC awarded funding of $48 million for eight broadband projects aimed at more than 22,000 California residents. About three weeks later, grants of $9 million were announced for five broadband projects in Tuolumne County. The grants are aimed at about 3,300 households.
