Four Maine recipients will share $10M in funding for rural broadband
Courtesy / USDA Rural Development Maine
U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Under Secretary D.J. LaVoy announces nearly $10 million in broadband grants and loans for four Maine projects at the Arrowsic Volunteer Fire Department.
More Information
Four recipients will share nearly $10 million in federal financing to bring broadband to thousands of homes, businesses and farms in coastal and rural Maine.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Deputy Under Secretary D.J. LaVoy made the announcement Thursday at the Arrowsic Volunteer Fire Station.
The town, on a Kennebec River island between Phippsburg and Georgetown, is one of four communities or projects in the state that will share the $9.87 million intended to create or improve rural internet access as part of the federal agency's ReConnect Pilot Program. LaVoy said the grants and loans will bring broadband to 4,527 households and 215 businesses in rural Maine.
It was one of many funding announcements in the first round of USDA’s ReConnect Pilot Program investments, according to a USDA news release.
Three of those getting grants and loans are small coastal communities. The fourth — the Biddeford Internet Corp., which does business as GWI — will use the money to strengthen its network in rural areas of Oxford and Androscoggin counties.
Specifically, the company will use a $3.5 million grant and a $3.5 million loan to expand its gigabit Fiber-to-the-Premise network to connect 4,084 households, 30 farms, 28 educational facilities, 23 businesses, 15 health care centers and 12 critical community facilities in the Oxford and Androscoggin county towns of Hebron, Sumner, Hartford, Buckfield, Canton, North Turner, Turner, South Paris and West Paris.
Arrowsic, in Sagadahoc County, will use a $604,254 grant and $604,254 loan to construct a fiber-optic broadband network with speeds up to 100 megabytes per second to connect 237 households, 20 businesses and four farms.
Monhegan Plantation, an island in Lincoln County, will use a $626,298 grant to connect the community, which has a school, power district, municipal office, museum, post office, library and several inns and small businesses. The project’s service area also includes 40 households, 11 farms and 15 businesses.
The town of Roque Bluffs, in Washington County, will use a $893,170 grant to construct a fiber-optic network to connect 166 households, 22 farms and 16 businesses. The network will connect to the Downeast ring of Maine's three-ring binder network backbone in Machias, 4.5 miles from the town line on Roque Bluffs Road.
'Economic necessity'
LaVoy said the program will ensure that the communities can connect to "the vital internet services that they depend on," including emergency response, business, education and telehealth.
USDA Rural Development Maine State Director Timothy P. Hobbs said the funding "is the result of the efforts of Maine’s strong and resilient Maine communities and people, who stepped up to the plate to work with Rural Development to bring essential broadband to their communities."
Also at the announcement was Gov. Janet Mills, who said, "High-speed internet is no longer a luxury; it is an economic necessity."
The program builds on work the state has done or is doing, she said. "As we work to strengthen and diversify our economy, building out our broadband capacity will play an important role and this funding represents another welcome step forward.”
GWI, in Biddeford, announced that it's accepted the grant and loan money.
"The company’s acceptance of the offer is only the beginning stage of contract negotiations, to which it is wholly committed to said Fletcher Kittredge, CEO, in a news release. “Fast, reliable, and affordable internet service is a requirement for rural communities."
He said the money "provides GWI with possibility of helping communities define how they would like to participate in world-class infrastructure and ensure multi-generational sustainability for their citizens."
He said other community partners that have made the path possible are Community Concepts, Maine West, Maine’s congressional delegation, ConnectME and the Finance Authority of Maine.
In March 2018, Congress provided $600 million to USDA to expand broadband infrastructure and services in rural America, and the ReConnect program was established that December. USDA received 146 applications between May 31 and July 12 requesting $1.4 billion. They are being reviewed and approved on a rolling basis, the release said.
An additional $550 million is being made available this year, with the application period closing March 16.
The program is used in partnership with the private sector and rural communities to build modern broadband infrastructure in areas with insufficient internet service, defined as connection speeds of less than 10 megabits per second download and 1 Mbps upload.
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments