April 08, 2013 — According to TDS Telecommunications Corp. (TDS®), construction is underway on two more of the company’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus projects. Newly underway are projects in Kentucky and Mississippi. Once complete, more customers will have access to high-speed Internet service.
In Mississippi, in areas around Leakesville, TDS’ Southeast Mississippi Telephone Company project will connect about 600 customers with access to high-speed Internet service. TDS has hired MasTec North America, Inc out of Coral Gables, Fla. to do the outside construction work on this project. Once the outside work is finished, TDS will complete the inside work. The project is scheduled to be accessible to customers by the end of the year.
In Kentucky, the project will impact about 550 customers around the Salem area. To perform the outside construction work on TDS’ Salem Telephone Company, CCI Systems, Inc. out of Iron Mountain, Mich. has been hired. Once the outside work is finished, TDS will complete the inside work. The project is expected to be accessible to customers by the end of the year.
TDS is receiving funding for the project from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) as part of the ARRA.