UPDATE, September 26: Today, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) announced the approval of $172 million in last-mile funding for 14 broadband projects. The grants will go to three Tribal entities, three smaller providers, one city, and one county. These grants were made in the sixth round of the state’s Last Mile Federal Funding Account awards.
The original recommendation for this round of grants — as seen in the original story below — was $174.4 million for 15 grants.
“Today we approved Federal Funding Account grants that expand broadband service in Del Norte, El Dorado, Humboldt, Santa Clara, and Siskiyou counties,” said CPUC Commissioner Darcie L. Houck. “These Federal Funding Account grants represent another critical step in closing the digital divide and ensuring all Californians have access to fast and reliable broadband, especially communities that have seen historic underinvestment.”
Please note: The original version of this update stated that Vero Networks was not included in this round of funding. This was incorrect. Vero Networks received a grant of $4.3 million in this funding round.
Original Story Follows
Just one day after AT&T was approved to get $30 million in last mile broadband funding from the state of California, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recommended that the company receive an additional $3.4 million toward the cost of last mile buildouts.
Also recommended for last mile funding were three Tribal entities, four smaller providers, one city, and one county. The latest recommendations were made in the sixth round of the state’s Last Mile Federal Funding Account awards. The CPUC must vote on the recommendations before they are finalized.
The recommendations in the sixth round include 15 grants totaling $174.4 million, and all call for fiber broadband. Some of the potential awardees were recommended for multiple grants.
The tribal entities recommended for funding in the sixth round are the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation, the Karuk Tribe and Yurok Telecommunications Corporation. The four smaller providers recommended for funding are Vero Fiber Networks, Siskiyou Telephone Company, Hankins Information Technology, and Surfnet.
The latter two companies also were recommended for funding earlier this month in an announcement about the fifth round in California’s last mile program.
The city that the CPUC recommended for funding is Placerville. The county that was recommended for funding is El Dorado.
Broadband provider Cal.net could benefit if the El Dorado funding is approved because the county is expected to use Cal.net to maintain and be the sole internet provider on the network. The funding is conditioned on the county retaining 100% ownership of the network.
The County of El Dorado is on tap to receive the most funding — more than $66.2 million for four projects.
The next biggest potential awardees are the Karuk Tribe ($27.4 million), the City of Placerville ($20.2 million), and Yurok Telecommunications ($19.6 million).
The funding that the CPUC has recommended in the sixth round would cover 100% of the costs for some of the projects. But it would only cover 50%, 61%, and 64% for each of the three projects for which AT&T was recommended and only 52% for the Karuk Tribe project.
It would cover 70% of the costs for the Vero Fiber Networks project, 90% for the Siskiyou Telephone Company project, and 92% for the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation project.
Additional information about the recommended grants can be found in this draft resolution and in this one.
Additional information about California broadband, including links to state funding resources, awards made and state specific Telecompetitor coverage, can be found on the Telecompetitor Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
