MADISON, Wis. (July 11, 2013)—TDS Telecommunications Corp. (TDS®) announces completion of its first American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus-funded broadband Internet project. Now, about 150 households near Orchard Farm, Mo., have access to high-speed Internet service.
“On behalf of TDS, I’m proud to announce the stimulus-funded project around Orchard Farm is completely finished,” says Troy Krantz, manager of Project Implementation at TDS. “People who didn’t have Internet access before now have access to reliable, high-speed Internet service. That’s great news! This is the first project we’ve completely finished. We look forward to wrapping up the majority of our remaining projects by the end of the year.”
About 3 miles of fiber optics cabling was installed and three cabinets (which protect the advanced network electronics) were placed throughout TDS’ Orchard Farm Telephone Co. to provide high-speed Internet access to more residents.
TDS is receiving partial funding for 42 of their 44 projects, including this one, from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) as part of the ARRA. This is TDS’ third ARRA broadband stimulus project accessible by residents—and the first to be 100 percent complete. TDS ARRA projects around Chatham, Mich. and Wind Lake, Wis. are accessible to a portion of households; these two projects are expected to be completed by the end of the year.
“Funds from the federal broadband stimulus program are helping us reach some of the most remote parts of communities we serve that are without broadband availability,” added Krantz. “Thanks to the ARRA funding, most of the residents in Orchard Farm now have access to broadband.”
For background information and updates visit: tdstelecom.com/MediaRoom/StimulusFunding.
Nationwide, more than 93 percent of TDS customers already have access to high-speed Internet service. TDS is intent on providing as many remaining customers with broadband connectivity as possible. According to TDS, federal stimulus funds are helping to close the gap and deliver Internet connectivity to more than 20,000 customers.
