[1st-mile-nm] And One More

[Richard Lowenberg]

Congratulations to Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority on their NTIA Public
Computing Centers project award.
More below.   RL


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 2, 2010

News Media Contact:
Shannon Gilson, (202) 482-4883, sgilson at doc.gov

SECRETARY LOCKE ANNOUNCES RECOVERY ACT INVESTMENTS TO
EXPAND BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS AND SPUR ECONOMIC GROWTH

WASHINGTON ? U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today announced 23 American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act investments to help bridge the technological
divide, boost economic growth, create jobs and improve education and healthcare
cross the country. The grants will increase broadband access and adoption in
California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana,
Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico,
Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and West Virginia. The grants, totaling more than
$160 million, will lay the groundwork to bring high-speed Internet access to
millions of households and businesses, and link up thousands of schools,
hospitals, libraries, and public safety offices to the information
superhighway.

?In a globalized 21st century economy, when you don?t have regular access to
the Internet, you don't have access to all the educational and employment
opportunities it provides. Fast, reliable Internet can help keep communities
safer, open doors for small businesses and provide job training and skills to
more Americans,? Locke said. ?Over the long-term, enabling our people to
create new products and new ways of doing business will help communities
throughout the country get onto a sustainable growth path, and that?s what
the Recovery Act is all about.?

The Department of Commerce?s National Telecommunications and Information
Administration?s (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP),
funded by the Recovery Act, provides grants to support the deployment of
broadband infrastructure, enhance and expand public computer centers, and
encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service.

?The level of interest in this program has been extraordinary, and is yet
another indicator of the critical role broadband plays in achieving durable,
sustainable economic growth,? Assistant Secretary for Communications and
Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling said. ?Like the
grants announced today, the strongest proposals are the ones that have taken a
truly comprehensive view of the communities to be served and have engaged as
many key members of the communities as possible in developing the projects.?

The following grants were announced today:

California:  Level 3 EON, LLC:  $3.3 million broadband infrastructure grant with
an additional $1.1 million applicant-provided match to build 11 new access
points on Level 3?s existing broadband network. These additional points of
interconnection ? essentially on-ramps to the Internet ? will offer
broadband speeds between 50 Mbps and 10 Gbps on an open and nondiscriminatory
basis to local Internet service providers, enabling them to provide enhanced
broadband capabilities to as many as 240,000 households, 9,900 businesses, and
240 anchor institutions, including schools, government agencies, and healthcare
providers.

Florida:  Level 3 EON, LLC: $2.1 million broadband infrastructure grant with an
additional $689,000 applicant-provided match to build seven new access points
on Level 3?s existing broadband network. These additional points of
interconnection will offer broadband speeds between 50 Mbps and 10 Gbps on an
open and nondiscriminatory basis to local Internet service providers, enabling
them to provide enhanced broadband capabilities to as many as 180,000
households, 12,300 businesses, and 100 community anchor institutions, including
schools, government agencies, and healthcare providers.

Florida:  School Board of Miami-Dade County: $3.5 million sustainable broadband
adoption grant with an additional $996,000 applicant-provided match to increase
broadband adoption among low-income middle school students and their families by
an estimated 15,000 households. The project plans to offer 60,000 hours of
computer training to 30,000 students and their parents, provide low-cost
refurbished laptops to 6,000 students and their families, and offer discounted
Internet service to 10,000 families.

Georgia:  Columbia County Information Technology Department: $13.5 million
broadband infrastructure grant with an additional $4.5 million
applicant-provided match to build a 220-mile, county-wide fiber network to
connect nearly 150 community anchor institutions and enhance healthcare, public
safety, and government services throughout the region. The project plans to
facilitate the creation of a high-capacity data center at the Medical College
of Georgia, support a sophisticated county-wide traffic and water control
system, enable 60 free Wi-Fi hotspots in public locations, and construct five
wireless towers to enhance public safety communications as well as improve
wireless communications capabilities throughout the region.

Georgia: Level 3 EON, LLC:  $1.4 million broadband infrastructure grant with an
additional $476,000 applicant-provided match to build four new access points on
Level 3?s existing broadband network. These additional points of
interconnection ? essentially on-ramps to the Internet ? will offer
broadband speeds between 50 Mbps and 10 Gbps on an open and nondiscriminatory
basis to local Internet service providers, enabling them to provide enhanced
broadband capabilities to as many as 198,000 households, 13,000 businesses, and
190 anchor institutions, including schools, government agencies, and healthcare
providers.

Illinois:  Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois: $22.5 million
broadband infrastructure grant with an additional $6.8 million
applicant-provided match to construct 187 miles of fiber-optic broadband
network in Urbana, Champaign and Savoy to provide high-speed connectivity to
community anchor institutions, and support fiber-to-the-home services in four
low-income neighborhoods. The project expects to provide speeds of at least 100
Mbps to directly connect 143 anchor institutions, including schools, social
service agencies, healthcare facilities, youth centers, public library systems
and higher education institutions.

Indiana:  Educational Networks of America, Inc.:  $14.3 million broadband
infrastructure grant with an additional $4 million applicant-provided match to
improve educational opportunities for an estimated 290,000 students and library
patrons by deploying 560 miles of fiber that will deliver 100 Mbps connections
to 145 public schools and libraries. In addition, the project expects to spur
affordable broadband Internet service for as many as 200,000 households, 30,000
businesses and 630 community anchor institutions by enabling local Internet
providers to connect to the project?s open network.

Kansas:  Level 3 EON, LLC: $998,000 broadband infrastructure grant with an
additional $333,000 applicant-provided match to build four new access points on
Level 3?s existing broadband network. These additional points of
interconnection will offer broadband speeds between 50 Mbps and 10 Gbps on an
open and nondiscriminatory basis to local Internet service providers, enabling
them to provide enhanced broadband capabilities to as many as 50,000
households, 3,600 businesses and 150 community anchor institutions, including
schools, government agencies, and healthcare providers.

Louisiana:  Deaf Action Center of Louisiana:  $1.4 million public computer
center grant with an additional $436,000 applicant-provided match to install 81
new videoconferencing stations, and enhance the user experience at 19 existing
stations that serve people who are deaf and hard of hearing in Northwest
Louisiana, and individual sites in Alabama, California, and Texas. The project
intends to use broadband and videoconference technology to provide on-demand,
cost-effective sign language interpretation at community anchor institutions
such as hospitals, courts, public safety agencies, shelters, schools and
libraries.

Massachusetts:  OpenCape Corporation:  $32 million broadband infrastructure
grant with an additional $8.3 million applicant-provided match to deploy 350
miles of fiber and over 100 miles of microwave broadband network links in the
Cape Cod region, directly connecting more than 70 anchor institutions,
including emergency shelters, libraries, colleges, academic research facilities
and town or public safety facilities. These anchors would receive 100 Mbs
service, allowing them to support a wide range of economic, educational, public
safety and healthcare-related applications.

Massachusetts:  Cambridge Housing Authority:  $699,000 public computer center
grant with an additional $541,000 applicant-provided match to reopen and expand
three public computer centers that serve approximately 10,000 public housing
residents, including low-income households, immigrants, seniors and minorities.
The Cambridge Housing Authority intends to replace 24 workstations and add 16
new ones at the centers to serve an expected 420 new users per week with access
to broadband technology, computer courses, job training and literacy programs.

Maryland:  Coppin State University:  $932,000 public computer center grant with
an additional $275,000 applicant-provided match to provide broadband access and
computer education to the Coppin Heights-Rosemont community, a low-income
neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland with a high minority population. Consistent
with the community?s existing revitalization plan, Coppin State University
will establish a 60-workstation computer center for use by the local community,
and anticipates offering 15 training and educational courses on a regular basis,
serving more than an estimated 500 users per week and more than 12,000 unique
users within two years.

North Carolina:  Mitchell County Historic Courthouse Foundation:  $239,000
public computer center grant with an additional $60,000 applicant-provided
match to more than double the number of public computer workstations available
to residents of Mitchell County, provide job training and educational courses
through the local community college and extension service, and expand broadband
Internet access by creating a Wi-Fi hotspot in the newly-renovated historic
courthouse that will reach the adjacent library and parts of downtown
Bakersville, North Carolina.

New Mexico:  Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority:  $176,000 public computer center
grant with an additional $52,000 applicant-provided match to expand the
capacity of one public computer center and create an additional public computer
center at two public housing sites, offering broadband access and computer
training to low-income families, minorities, disadvantaged youth, disabled, and
elderly Santa Fe residents. The project expects to add 13 new broadband
workstations and replace seven workstations, enabling the centers to increase
the number of users served per week from 27 to 135.

Ohio:  OneCommunity:  $18.7 million sustainable broadband adoption grant with an
additional $4.8 million applicant-provided match to employ a collaborative
strategy to expand broadband adoption by almost 20,000 households in targeted
communities in five states. OneCommunity plans to work with non-profit and
community organizations to implement neighbor-to-neighbor broadband adoption
and awareness campaigns reaching an estimated 334,000 low-income individuals,
and provide training and services to an estimated 33,000 people in Akron,
Cleveland, and Zanesville, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Gulfport/Biloxi,
Mississippi; Lexington, Kentucky and Bradenton, Florida. (This project benefits
Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, and Mississippi as well.)

Oregon:  Lane Council of Governments:  $8.3 million broadband infrastructure
grant with an additional $2.1 million applicant-provided match to enhance an
existing fiber-optic backbone and deploy 124 miles of fiber-optic network that
will deliver broadband capabilities across three large, mostly rural counties
and the Klamath Tribal region in Western Oregon. The project plans to enhance
education, healthcare delivery, job training, and government services by
providing 100 Mbs connections for more than 100 community anchor institutions,
including medical centers, public safety entities, schools, community colleges
and libraries.

Puerto Rico:  Iniciativa Tecnolégica Centro Oriental, Inc. (INTECO, Inc.): 
$12.9 millionbroadband infrastructure grant with an additional $3.4 million
applicant-provided match to deploy a multifaceted 515 mile network that will
include both wireless and fiber connections in some of the neediest areas of
Puerto Rico. The project plans to directly connect nearly 250 anchor
institutions including  schools, hospitals, municipal facilities, police
stations and libraries. It will also facilitate new or improved broadband
Internet access for local consumers, including up to 300 anchor institutions,
136,000 households, and 600 businesses and industrial centers, by enabling
local service providers to connect to the project?s open network.

Tennessee:  Level 3 EON:  $1.3 million broadband infrastructure grant with an
additional $432,000 applicant-provided match to build four new access points on
Level 3?s existing broadband network. These additional points of
interconnection will offer broadband speeds between 50 Mbps and 10 Gbps on an
open and nondiscriminatory basis to local Internet service providers, enabling
them to provide enhanced broadband capabilities to as many as 188,000
households, 9,600 businesses, and 150 community anchor institutions, including
schools, government agencies and healthcare providers.

Tennessee:  DeltaCom, Inc.:  $9.4 million broadband infrastructure grant with an
additional $2.3 million applicant-provided match to provide a 544-mile
high-capacity fiber-optic broadband network that will provide high-speed
connections for more than 50 community anchor institutions in five Eastern
Tennessee communities, from Chattanooga through Knoxville to Johnson City and
Bristol. The project expects to spur more affordable broadband Internet access
for over 34,000 households, 5,000 businesses, and 270 anchor institutions by
allowing local Internet providers to connect to the project?s open network.

Texas:  Level 3 EON:  $4.7 million broadband infrastructure grant with an
additional $1.6 million applicant-provided match to build 17 new access points
on Level 3?s existing broadband network. These additional points of
interconnection will offer broadband speeds between 50 Mbps and 10 Gbps on an
open and nondiscriminatory basis to local Internet service providers, enabling
them to provide enhanced broadband capabilities to as many as 400,000
households, 21,000 businesses, and 214 community anchor institutions, including
schools, government agencies and healthcare providers.

Wisconsin:  The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System:  $5.1
millionbroadband infrastructure grant with an additional $3.7 million
applicant-provided match to deploy more than 100 miles of fiber-optic
infrastructure to provide high-capacity broadband Internet connections for
community anchor institutions, and enable last-mile broadband services
throughout the Madison, Middleton, and Monona, Wisconsin region. The project
expects to directly connect nearly 100 community anchor institutions, including
schools, public safety organizations, and a community college, at speeds of up
to 10 Gbps.

West Virginia:  Hardy Telecommunications, Inc.:  $3.2 million broadband
infrastructure grant with an additional $814,000 applicant-provided match to
build a 177-mile high-capacity fiber-optic network to Hardy County, West
Virginia, a sparsely populated region of the state with difficult terrain. The
project intends to connect an estimated 35 anchor institutions, such as
emergency agencies, government offices, libraries, and colleges, as well as
spur more affordable high-speed Internet service for up to 1,900 households and
190 businesses by enabling local Internet service providers to connect to the
project?s open network.

West Virginia:  WorkForce West Virginia:  $1.9 million public computer center
grant with an additional $568,000 applicant-provided match to improve access to
job information, career counseling, and skills training by upgrading and
expanding 20 WorkForce West Virginia One-Stop career centers throughout the
state. This project intends to replace all of the existing 165 computer
workstations at the centers, add 80 new workstations, and serve almost 2,300
additional users per week, nearly double their current traffic.

Fact sheets with further information about all BTOP grants are available on the
NTIA web site here:http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/projects.html.

Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, NTIA?s Broadband
Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) provides grants to support the
deployment of broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas,
enhance and expand public computer centers, and encourage sustainable adoption
of broadband service.



-- 
Richard Lowenberg
1st-Mile Institute
P.O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110;   505-603-5200 cell
rl at 1st-mile.com  www.1st-mile.com

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