The state of Florida announced $223 million in rural broadband funding on Friday through two separate programs– the Broadband Opportunity Program and the Multipurpose Community Facilities Program.
The Broadband Opportunity Program covers some of the costs of broadband buildouts in unserved rural areas. Awards totaling $135 million were announced through that program and are expected to make service available to over 27,000 locations.
In response to an inquiry from Telecompetiteor, Cox Communications confirmed that, based on the initial report, the company believes it has won 10 grants totaling $34 million to build out to 4,500 households in pockets to the east of its Gulf Coast market and to the south of its Central Florida market.
Friday’s press release about the Florida rural broadband awards includes links to lists of the awards made in both programs by county. But the list for the Broadband Opportunity Program does not include the names of the broadband providers that will do the deployments. Telecompetitor reached out to FloridaCommerce, which administers the program, to ask for that information. We will publish an update whenever we hear back from them.
The state previously awarded $226 million through the Broadband Opportunity Program in three separate rounds.
Charter was a big winner in the previous rounds, which were announced in February, April and June of last year.
Comcast and Cox also have been big winners in the Broadband Opportunity Program.
The Multipurpose Community Facilities Program awards announced Friday totaled $86 million. Funding will go toward 29 community infrastructure projects including health clinics, schools and workforce development programs.
Additional information about Florida broadband, including links to state resources and state-specific Telecompetitor coverage, can be found on the Broadband Nation page for Florida.
Updated with information from Cox Communications about its awards
