The agencies responsible for implementing the Recovery Act competitive broadband grant programs released their first few grants yesterday while the Susan Crawford blog was getting back in gear. (Press release here; spreadsheet from the Broadband Breakfast Club describing the projects here.) There are several middle-mile projects in the mix that will provide abundant interconnection points for last-mile providers.
The spreadsheet shows that some of these first projects are funded solely by the Department of Commerce (BTOP), some by the Department of Agriculture (BIP), and some by both agencies – remarkable cooperation. About two-thirds of the funding announced yesterday went towards middle-mile projects, which makes a lot of sense. Middle mile transport connects towns to the large backbones of the Internet, and all of these middle mile links will be subject to interconnection requirements – meaning that any last mile provider will be able to connect on nondiscriminatory terms. Meaningful bang for the federal buck.
Here’s the narrative about one of these projects – in Maine – put together by a number of public and private partners and awarded $25M:
The Three Ring Binder project proposes to create an open access fiber-optic network extending to the most rural and disadvantaged areas of the state of Maine – from the Saint John Valley in the north, to the rocky coastline of downeast Maine, to the mountainous regions of Western Maine – linking the unserved and underserved areas of the state together with a modern communications network. The project proposes a 1,100-mile network that will pass through more than 100 communities, making broadband more readily available to 110,000 households, 600 community anchor institutions, and a number of last mile service providers. The public-private partnership expects to provide 100 Mbps broadband capabilities for University of Maine campuses, community colleges, government facilities, public safety departments, the MaineREN research and education network, and rural healthcare clinics and hospitals. The project plans to benefit clinics and hospitals by allowing for more immediate contact with clinical healthcare specialists and by increasing the collaboration of local community-based healthcare providers with specialists in major metropolitan areas.
This project will provide middle mile fiber for service providers to bring cost-effective, high-speed Internet access services to areas without access. And it will connect many anchor institutions – 10 campuses and outreach centers of the University of Maine System, three community colleges, and 38 government facilities. It’s a good story and a good start.