The state of Idaho issued a formal announcement last week about $120 million in broadband grant funding awarded through the Idaho Capital Projects Fund.
Telecompetitor reported on the awards in early November. We offer some additional details in today’s post.
Comcast, Ziply Fiber and 13 other entities will take home a combined $120 million and are expected to connect 30,000 locations. Decisions were made by the Idaho Broadband Advisory Board.
Seven of the awardees were counties, including four that were awarded $10 million or more. The other awardees were broadband providers.
The broadband provider slated to get the most funding is Intermax, which will take home three awards for a total of nearly $13.8 million. The company was founded in 2001 and uses a combination of fiber and fixed wireless.
The second biggest amount of funding to a broadband provider was over $11.3 million to Ziply. The company won awards for two counties.
Comcast won the third largest amount among the broadband providers, taking home close to $9.9 million.
Other broadband providers winning funding include two long-lived companies that can trace their roots back over 50 years ago to when they started out as local telephone companies – Custer Telephone Cooperative and MiFiber.
Also among the winners were several newer local companies that offer service using fixed wireless, fiber, or a mixture of the two.
Eligible areas were those lacking service at speeds of 100/20 Mbps. Awardees are expected to deploy service at speeds of at least 100 Mbps symmetrically.
“These grants are the culmination of months working together and engaging stakeholders, local communities and internet providers all across the State,” said Idaho Broadband Program Manager Ramón Hobdey-Sánchez in the official announcement. “I couldn’t be prouder of the hard work and dedication my colleagues exemplified throughout this entire grant process and the impact they have all had on improving internet access for Idahoans.”
“These awarded projects are another important step in furthering the Idaho Broadband Advisory Board’s mission of ensuring that all Idahoans have access to affordable and reliable internet,” said Idaho Broadband Advisory Board Chair John Vander Woude.
Funding for the broadband grant program came from the federal Capital Projects Fund. The awards made exhausted the $120 million that was awarded to the state to support this awards program, which represented 93% of the total CPF dollars allocated to the state.
A full list of the awards can be found at this link.
