TDS Offers Progress Update on Broadband Stimulus Projects

TDS gave a progress report on their broadband stimulus funded projects, highlighting that seven projects are now underway, and seven more will begin shortly. TDS won a total of 44 broadband stimulus awards, totaling nearly $136 million to expand high-speed Internet services in 20 states.

“Dirt is moving,” stated Larry Boehm, director of Network Implementation and Optimization for TDS in a press release. “Construction is underway on seven of our projects and another seven are scheduled to start in the coming weeks. We’ll be burying 1,300 miles of fiber and copper to deliver the high-speed Internet services our customers are waiting for. This is an exciting time for us, and for our customers.”

The 14 projects that TDS highlighted today are in nine states and will impact 9,400 households. The projects include:

Alabama
Butler Telephone Company, Inc. {areas around Grove Hill}

Michigan
Chatham Telephone Company {areas surrounding Au Train, Chatham, Sand River, Skandia, Trenary}

Missouri
Orchard Farm Telephone Co. {areas to the north, east, south of Orchard Farm}

Wisconsin
Badger Telecom, LLC {areas just north and south of Granton; areas surrounding (not including) Neillsville; area north of Greenwood}

Central State Telephone Company, LLC {area east of Nekoosa; area north of New Lisbon; areas east, west and south of Vesper; areas south and east of Junction City}

Stockbridge & Sherwood Telephone Company, LLC {an area around Tisch Mills; an area just east of Hilbert}

The Farmers Telephone Company, LLC {area including Glen Haven; area north of Cassville; area north of Beetown; an area west of Dickeyville}

Colorado
Delta County Tele-Comm, Inc. {areas around Bowie and Somerset; just south of Cedaredge; south of Hotchkiss; and east/west of Crawford}

Indiana
Home Telephone Company, Inc. {areas just to the east and west of Geneva}

Idaho
Potlatch Telephone Company {areas impacted are north of Howell and to the east, south, and west of Kendrick}

Mississippi
Calhoun City Telephone Company {areas surrounding Calhoun City, Slate Springs, and Vardaman}

Minnesota
Arvig Telephone Company {areas impacted are near Hackensack, Backus, Pine River, Pequot Lakes, Swanburg, and Graf}

Wisconsin
Midway Telephone Company, LLC, Wis. {areas around Medford}
UTELCO, LLC, Wis. {areas around Monroe}

This update from TDS highlights the ongoing impact of the broadband stimulus program. While projects were supposed to be ‘shovel ready,’ many of them are really just getting underway, roughly two years after RUS and NTIA began announcing winners of the $7.2 billion funded stimulus program.

The program initially awarded 553 grants and grant/loan combinations, but not all of those will be completed. Some awardees backed away from the program and some awards were also reclaimed.

The program probably hasn’t moved as quickly as some stakeholders would have liked. Government red tape, regulatory, permitting, and labor issues delayed many of the projects. RUS even offered an extension at one point in the hopes of getting more projects going. TDS says they hope to have all of their projects completed in 2013, with many done in 2012. The program originally required projects to be completed within three years of the funding date.