United States Department of Agriculture

Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report

	 Advancing

	 Broadband

A Foundation for Strong Rural Communities

January 2011
ii Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

	 1	 Message from the Administrator

	 2	 Investing in Rural America

	 3	 Infrastructure Awards

	 6	 Satellite Awards

	 7	 Technical Assistance Awards

	 9	 Industry Standard Terms

10		 Infrastructure Project Summaries 

Contents
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA)

Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is the Federal

leader in delivering key utilities systems—

telecommunications, electricity, water and

wastewater, and now 21st century high-speed

broadband services—to remote underserved and

unserved communities in rural America. Now, in

expanding 21st century high-speed broadband

services to farms, schools, public safety facilities,

and other institutions in rural communities, the

impact of RUS initiatives will be experienced more

broadly across the country. 

Beginning in 1935, RUS’s predecessor, the Rural

Electrification Administration, helped bring

electricity to rural America and was the driving

force behind telephone service being introduced in

the same remote areas, starting in 1949. 

Since 1994, RUS required federally funded

telecommunications projects to be broadband

capable. In 2002, Congress created a broadband

loan program to pave the way for an Internet

infrastructure of the future. With the American

Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,

RUS assumed a leading role in stimulating the

economy, creating jobs, and bringing opportunity

to rural Americans by investing more than $3.5

billion to expand broadband networks that will

close the digital divide between rural and urban

communities. The Recovery Act also invested

$3.27 billion in rural water and waste disposal

systems to further bolster rural infrastructure.

RUS is applying its extensive technical skills,

program experience, and financial expertise

gained over 75 years to the new challenge

of deploying the most advanced broadband

capability in rural communities. USDA Secretary

Tom Vilsack has recognized broadband as a pillar

of his strategy to revitalize rural America. Since

passage of the Recovery Act, in collaboration

with the U.S. Department of Commerce and

other Federal agencies, RUS has ensured

valuable resources are distributed effectively and

efficiently, as Congress intended.

In September 2010, RUS completed the awards

phase of the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP). 

This report summarizes the BIP awards made to

advance congressional directives and confirms the

Obama Administration’s commitment to improving

rural connectivity and enhancing the quality

of life for rural families and businesses. These

investments in broadband will connect nearly

7 million rural Americans, along with more than

360,000 businesses and more than 30,000 critical

community institutions like schools, healthcare

facilities, and public safety agencies, to new or

improved service.

These investments not only will benefit rural

areas, but also will contribute to our economic

growth as a Nation. Through this program, RUS

is generating urgently needed jobs to construct

these new networks. Once built, they will provide

the platform for economic development and job

creation for years to come.

Jonathan Adelstein

Administrator

Rural Utilities Service

Message from the Administrator

1
2 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Investing in Rural America

Rural areas with dispersed populations or

demanding terrain generally have difficulty

attracting broadband service providers because

the fixed cost of delivering broadband service can

be too high. Yet broadband is a key to economic

growth. For rural businesses, broadband gives

access to national and international markets and

enables new, small, and home-based businesses

to thrive. Broadband access provides rural

residents with the connectivity they need to obtain

healthcare, education, and many essential goods

and services.

The Recovery Act authorized RUS to issue loans and

grants to projects that extend broadband service

to unserved and underserved rural areas. The

funding provided by the Recovery Act is increasing

the availability of broadband and stimulating both

short- and long-term economic progress.

RUS completed two BIP funding rounds, making

a significant investment in projects that will

enhance broadband infrastructure in scores of rural

communities.

This represents a critical investment, designed to

rebuild and revitalize rural communities. Without

this funding, many communities could not cover

the costs of providing broadband service to

homes, schools, libraries, healthcare providers,

colleges, and other anchor institutions. 

Project Type Number of 

Projects Grants Loans Total Awards

Infrastructure 297 $2,233,862,109 $1,191,844,578 $3,425,706,687

Satellite 4 $100,000,000 $0 $100,000,000

Technical

Assistance 19 $3,384,202 $0 $3,384,202

Total Awards 320 $2,337,246,311 $1,191,844,578 $3,529,090,889
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 3

RUS awarded $3.4 billion to 297 recipients in

45 States and 1 U.S. territory for infrastructure

projects. Eighty-nine percent of the awards and

92 percent of the total dollars awarded are for

285 last-mile projects ($3.25 billion), which will

provide broadband service to households and

other end users. Four percent of the awards

and 5 percent of the total dollars awarded are

for 12 middle-mile projects ($173 million) that

will provide necessary backbone services such

as interoffice transport, backhaul, Internet

connectivity, or special access to rural areas.

The projects funded will bring broadband service

to 2.8 million households, reaching nearly 7

million people, 364,000 businesses, and 32,000

anchor institutions across more than 300,000

square miles. These projects also overlap with 31

tribal lands and 124 persistent poverty counties.

The projects will create more than 25,000

immediate and direct jobs. Although the longterm impact these projects will have on fostering

job creation in these communities is difficult to

estimate, the projects are expected to contribute

to the long-term economic development

opportunities in each rural community where a

broadband project is launched. Data provided

by the U.S. Department of Education show that

more than 1 million K-12 students attend school

within areas served by BIP awards. More than

100 colleges and technical schools are located in

areas served by BIP awards. Data provided by the

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

show that nearly 600 rural healthcare facilities

are located in areas served by BIP awards. Sixtyfive (11 percent) of these facilities will receive

broadband for the first time as a result of BIP.

Infrastructure Awards

$0

$500

$1,000

$1,500

$2,000

$2,500

$3,000

$3,500

$4,000

Last Mile Middle Mile

285

12

Awardee

Contribution

BIP Loan

BIP Grant

BIP Awards and Awardee Contribution

in millions

Awardee Contribution

BIP Loan

BIP Grant

$0

$200

$400

$600

$800

$1,000

$1,200

$1,400

$1,600

$1,800

$2,000

For-profit

Corporation

Public Entity Non-profit

Corporation

Indian

Tribe

202

65

13

8 9

Cooperative

or Mutual

BIP Awards and Awardee Contribution by Entity Type

in millions

Numerical value represents number of awards.

Numerical value represents number of awards.
4 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

45%

24%

31% 32%

9%

K–5th

grade

6–8th

grade

9–12th

grade

Free Lunch

Eligible

Reduced Price

Lunch Eligible

More Than 1 Million K-12 Students Attend School 

Within Areas Served by BIP Awards

percent of school children

Data represent more than 3,300 schools in 44 States. At least

one school is located in 228 (77%) of BIP areas served. Nearly

115,000 (11%) students will receive broadband for the first time

as a result of BIP.

Source: U.S. Department of Education

322

142

121

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Rural Health

Clinics

Non-metro

Hospitals

Federal Qualified

Health Centers

BIP Awards Serve Nearly 600 

Rural Healthcare Facilities

number of facilities

Facilities are located in 123

BIP served areas in 40 States

65 (11%) are in a currently

unserved area

Numerical value represents number of awards.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

0

50

100

150

200

250

Wireline Wireless Wireless/Wireline

213

51

33

BIP Technology Type

number of projects

Percent eligible for free lunch

Numerical value represents number of awards.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 5

BIP Awards by Project Type

Middle Mile

Last Mile

Alaska Hawaii American Samoa

BIP Awards by Technology Type

Wireless

Wireless/Wireline

Wireline

Alaska Hawaii American Samoa
6 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

RUS funded additional BIP awards through the

Satellite Grant Program.

The Satellite Grant Program made $100 million

available through four broadband satellite

providers to connect rural premises left unserved

by other technologies. These broadband satellite

providers are expected to reach nearly 424,000

premises and 10,000 commercial subscribers

across the country. Through this funding, these

subscribers will receive broadband satellite

premises equipment, installation, and activation at

no cost to them, as well as discounted service for

at least 1 year.

Satellite Awards

Region 1

Region 2

Region 3

Region 4

Region 5

Region 6

Region 7 Region 8

BIP Satellite Regions

Satellite Awardees

Awardee Name Regions

EchoStar XI Regions 4–6

Hughes Network

Systems Regions 1–8

Spacenet, Inc. Regions 7–8

WildBlue

Communications Regions 1–3
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 7

RUS funded additional BIP awards through the

Technical Assistance Grant Program.

The Technical Assistance Grant Program provides

$3.4 million to 19 technical assistance projects to

create regional broadband development plans in

13 States. Some of the projects will cross Native

American tribal areas. The Technical Assistance

Grant Program will provide funding of up to

$200,000 to infrastructure award recipients

and Indian tribes. These technical assistance

grants will support planning efforts that will lay

the groundwork for the future development

of broadband infrastructure and increased

broadband access in rural areas.

Technical Assistance Awards

Technical Assistance Awardees

Awardee Name State

Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Alaska

Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Colorado

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Idaho

Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Minnesota

Northeast Service Cooperative Minnesota

Arizona Nevada Tower Corporation Nevada

Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation Nevada, Utah

Consolidated Electric Cooperative Ohio

Benton Ridge Telephone Company Ohio

Pioneer Long Distance, Inc. Oklahoma

Cherokee Nation Oklahoma

Kaw Nation-Kaw Enterprise Development Authority Oklahoma

Warm Springs Telecommunications Company Oregon

County of Orangeburg South Carolina

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe South Dakota

Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate South Dakota

Scott County Telephone Cooperative Virginia

Quinault Indian Nation Washington

Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Washington
8 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

WA

$244.3

17

MT

$133.4

8

ID

$30.5

13

OR

$52.7

15

NV

$66.7

12

CA

$444.3

29

UT

$48.9

9

WY

$14.8

3

CO

$146.5

13

NM

$184.5

17

AZ

$113.0

14

TX

$312.8

32

OK

$277.6

27

KS

$144.9

14

NE

$31.6

6

ND

$96.1

11

SD

$53.4

8

MN

$242.3

29 WI

$171.4

23

IA

$166.9

20

MO

$263.5 20

AR

$128.5

8 MS

$127.3

10

AL

$142.5

15

GA

$170.7

17

FL

$126.5

13

SC

$45.4

7

TN $233.9 / 16

KY

$315.0

20

IL

$239.6

18

IN

$63.5

10

MI

$245.7

18

OH

$202.4

20

PA

$215.9

13

VA

$154.5

16

NC

$278.6

18

NY

$160.7

20

ME

$42.6

7

LA

$189.8

10

AS

$92.9

2

GU

$7.5

2

MP

$3.4

2

PR

$41.1

3

VI

$67.5

4

AK

$138.8

9

HI

$40.4

5

WV

$184.3

10

VT

$174.0

7

NH

$54.5

7

 MA $94.5 / 9

 RI $24.9 / 3

 CT $97.6 / 2

 NJ $49.7 / 3

 DE $5.0 / 2

 MD $125.6 / 6

DC $27.2 / 4

$ = Amount (in millions) of all BTOP and BIP 

 awards impacting that State or Territory 

 (note: amount may include the estimated

 per State share of any BTOP awards that

 impact multiple States).

# = Total number of BTOP and BIP awards

 impacting that State or Territory.

National Awards

 7 $206.0

The combined investments of USDA’s BIP and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National

Telecommunications and Information Administration Broadband Technology Opportunities

Program (BTOP). The funds awarded in each State are the result of the two agency

programs authorized by the Recovery Act of 2009.

For additional information on the BTOP awards, visit http://www2.ntia.doc.gov.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 9

Industry Standard Terms

ADSL/ADSL2+ Asymmetric Digital

Subscriber Line	

ASN-GW Access Service Network

Gateway

BLC Broadband Loop Carrier

BPL Broadband Over Powerlines

CLEC Competitive Local Exchange

Carrier

CSN Connectivity Service Network

DLC Digital Loop Carrier

DOCSIS Data Over Cable Service

Interface Specification

DSL Digital Subscriber Line

DSLAM Digital Subscriber Line Access

Multiplexer

DWDM Dense Wavelength Division

Multiplexing

FTTH Fiber-to-the-Home

FTTN Fiber-to-the-Node

FTTP Fiber-to-the-Premise

FTTT Fiber-to-the-Tower

FTTx Fiber-to-the-x

Gbps Gigabits Per Second

GHz Gigahertz

GigE Gigabit Ethernet

GPON Gigabit Passive Optical Network

HFC Hybrid Fiber/Coaxial

Hz Hertz

ILEC Incumbent Local Exchange

Carrier

IP Internet Protocol

IPTV Internet Protocol Television

ITU International Telecommunication

Union

Kbps Kilobits Per Second

LEC Local Exchange Carrier

LTE Long Term Evolution

Mbps Megabits Per Second

MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

OLT Optical Line Terminals

OSN Optical Splitting Network

P2MP Point-to-Multipoint

PFSA Proposed Funded Service Area

PON Passive Optical Network

POP Point of Presence

POTS Plain Old Telephone Service

PUD Public Utility District

RF Radio Frequency

RFoG Radio Frequency over Glass

SIP Service Interface Point

VDSL2 Very-High-Speed Digital

Subscriber Line 2

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol

WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for

Microwave Access
10 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Infrastructure Project Summaries

Estimates of jobs created or saved are based

on information provided by applicants.

ALABAMA

Butler Telephone Company, Inc.

Butler Telephone Company, Inc., Project to Serve 

Rural, Remote, and Unserved Establishments

Last Mile Remote

$3,892,920 Grant

Butler Telephone Company, Inc., a subsidiary of

TDS Telecommunications Corp. (TDS Telecom),

will provide high-speed DSL broadband service

to remote, unserved households within its rural

service territory in Alabama. The network will

make services available to 462 households, 23

businesses, and 1 anchor institution. The project

will create or save an estimated 77 jobs.

National Telephone of Alabama, Inc.

Cherokee Broadband Initiatives Project

Last Mile

$421,578 Loan

$1,264,739 Grant

National Telephone of Alabama, Inc., will deploy

ADSL2+ technology to provide the infrastructure

necessary for rural subscribers in the Colbert County

communities of Barton, Cherokee, and Margerum

to access advanced high-speed broadband

service. The network will make services available

to 1,294 households, 231 businesses, and 8 anchor

institutions. The project will create four jobs.

North Alabama Electric Cooperative

North Alabama Remote Rural Broadband Economic 

Development Initiative

Last Mile

$19,100,909 Grant

North Alabama Electric Cooperative will provide a

last-mile FTTH network for high-speed broadband

in an underserved rural area in northeast Alabama. 

North Alabama Electric Cooperative and New Hope

Telephone Cooperative, a service provider, are

partnering to provide high-speed broadband access

to more than 8,048 households, 1,442 businesses,

and 53 anchor institutions. North Alabama Electric

Cooperative will provide voice, video, and data

services to customers over an active GPON using

fiber-optic cable and passive and active components. 

Internet connections will be at 100 Mbps or

higher. The project will create or save 51 jobs.

Peoples Telephone Company, Inc. 

Peoples Telephone Company, Inc., Broadband Project 

to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$4,163,589 Grant

Peoples Telephone Company, Inc. (Peoples Tel), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will build a project to bring

high-speed broadband service to unserved premises

within Peoples Tel’s rural franchise service territory. 

Peoples Tel is the State-certified ILEC in Alabama. 

The project will serve 11 PFSAs located within its

franchised service territory, which are 100 percent

rural and include 11 communities. Within these

PFSAs, there are 1,219 premises (1,199 households,

19 businesses, and 1 anchor institution) that have no

access to broadband service. Peoples Tel has built

a broadband network that is capable of serving the

majority of these premises in several of the core

communities, but the surrounding area, much of

which is sparsely populated, lacks broadband access

due to the high cost of building such a network. In

addition, facilities-based terrestrial broadband service

is unavailable to the premises in the PFSAs. This

project will provide access to high-speed broadband

service (20 Mbps upstream and downstream

combined). The network is also engineered so that it

can be easily upgraded at a reasonable cost to meet

future needs. The project will create or save 109 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 11

Utopian Wireless Corporation

Utopian Ashford WiMAX Project

Last Mile

$396,525 Loan

$1,189,575 Grant

Utopian Wireless Corporation will make available

advanced 4G wireless broadband service to

underserved communities in and around the

Ashford area. The PFSA includes the rural areas of

Slocomb, Ashford, Hartford, Cottonwood, Webb,

and Chancellor. The PFSA covers approximately

9,391 households, 3,848 businesses, and 219 anchor

institutions. Using licensed 2.5 GHz spectrum,

Utopian Wireless Corporation will deploy a

broadband wireless system that features Motorola

Mobile WiMAX technology, which offers several

advantages over other wireless technologies,

including a highly efficient air interface optimized

for IP, built-in support for advanced antenna

technologies like MIMO, and quality-of-service

controls that enable differentiated services and open

access. The project will create 10 full-time jobs.

Utopian Wireless Corporation

Utopian Shoals WiMAX Project

Last Mile

$569,679 Loan

$1,709,039 Grant

Utopian Wireless Corporation will make available

advanced 4G wireless broadband service to

underserved communities in and around the Shoals

area. The rural PFSA includes the ZIP code areas

of 35645 (Killen), 35652 (Rogersville), 35672 (Town

Creek), 35646 (Leighton), and 35618 and covers

approximately 11,885 households, 1,731 businesses,

and 220 anchor institutions. Using licensed 2.5

GHz spectrum, Utopian Wireless Corporation

will deploy a broadband wireless system that

features Motorola Mobile WiMAX technology. The

system solution includes WiMAX access points,

wireless and wired backhaul, ASN-GW, CSN,

and an IP core that supports authentication and

routing of traffic to application servers and the

Internet. The project will create 14 full-time jobs.

ALASKA

Copper Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

McCarthy Microwave Shot

Middle Mile

$2,613,975 Loan

$2,613,975 Grant

Copper Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (CVTC)

will extend terrestrial wireless broadband connectivity

to McCarthy, a remote rural community where CVTC

is the serving LEC. The project will allow CVTC to

transition from a low-bandwidth-capacity satellite link

to the proposed high-capacity terrestrial microwave

middle-mile service in an area that has no terrestrial

connections to outside networks. Currently, all

communications in and out of McCarthy utilize earthorbiting satellites. The project will make services

available to 26 households, 15 businesses, and 3

anchor institutions that are unserved, creating the

potential for increased business growth, public

services, public safety, and quality of life for the

residents of McCarthy. The project will create 56 jobs.

Copper Valley Wireless, Inc.

Copper Valley Wireless - Cordova, AK, Microwave

Middle Mile

$1,747,796 Loan

$1,747,795 Grant

Copper Valley Wireless, Inc., will extend terrestrial

connectivity from Naked Island to Cordova, a remote

rural community with voice service provided by the

local cooperative. The project will provide access

to the interexchange carrier to provide high-speed

broadband to residents. The network will make

services available to 1,077 households and 10 anchor

institutions. The project will create five jobs.
12 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Rivada Sea Lion, LLC

Southwestern Alaska Broadband Rural Expansion 

(SABRE)

Last Mile Remote

$25,333,240 Grant

Rivada Sea Lion, LLC will deliver low-cost, highspeed broadband and public safety interoperability

to the inaccessible communities of southwestern

Alaska. The project will dramatically enhance service

to homes, businesses, community centers, schools,

medical clinics, and public safety organizations. 

SABRE will use a unique combination of wireless

technologies to deliver leading-edge connectivity

to the proposed service area. The network will

make services available to 8,136 households,

809 businesses, and 128 anchor institutions. The

project will create an estimated 60 jobs.

Supervision, Inc.

Farther and Faster

Last Mile Remote

$174,680 Grant

Supervision, Inc.’s Farther and Faster project

will provide last-mile cable to deliver broadband

capability to homes, businesses, and community

facilities in Tanana, a predominantly Alaska Native

community located on the Yukon River. The network

will make services available to 166 households,

14 businesses, and 5 anchor institutions. 

United Utilities, Inc.

TERRA-SW: Terrestrial Broadband in Southwestern 

Alaska

Middle Mile

$44,158,522 Loan

$43,982,240 Grant

United Utilities, Inc., will provide middle-mile

connectivity to 65 communities in southwestern

Alaska. These communities span the Bristol Bay and

Yukon Kuskokwim regions, an area approximately

the size of North Dakota. Connectivity is over a

combination of undersea fiber, terrestrial fiber,

and microwave links. United Utilities will leverage

its DeltaNet network to reduce the total cost of

deployment. The network will make services available

to 9,100 households, 748 businesses, and 89 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 105 jobs.

AMERICAN SAMOA

American Samoa Telecommunications Authority

Broadband Linking the American Samoa Territory 

(BLAST) Project

Last Mile Remote

$10,000,000 Loan

$81,034,763 Grant

American Samoa Telecommunications Authority

will replace its old, deteriorating legacy copper

infrastructure with a more robust and weather-durable

fiber-optic network that will link the main islands

of American Samoa, making it possible to provide

broadband services to every household, business,

and anchor institution in the territory. The network

will make services available to 9,735 households,

315 businesses, and 106 anchor institutions. The

project will create an estimated 2,000 jobs.

ARIZONA

Arizona Telephone Company

Arizona Telephone Company: Broadband Project to 

Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$4,014,808 Grant

Arizona Telephone Company (Arizona Tel) will bring

high-speed broadband service to unserved premises

in its rural franchise service territory. Arizona Tel, a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, is the State-certified ILEC

in Arizona. The project is designed to serve nine

PFSAs in its franchised service territory, which is 100

percent rural and includes six communities. In these

PFSAs, 608 premises (552 households, 54 businesses,

and 2 anchor institutions) currently have no access to

broadband service. Arizona Tel has built a broadband

network that is capable of serving the majority of

these premises in several of the core communities,

but the surrounding area, much of which is sparsely

populated, lacks broadband access due to the high

cost of building such a network. In addition, facilitiesbased terrestrial broadband service is unavailable

to the premises in the PFSAs. This project will

provide access to high-speed broadband service

(20 Mbps upstream and downstream combined). 

The network is also engineered so that it can be

easily upgraded at a reasonable cost to meet future

needs. The project will create or save 106 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 13

Hopi Telecommunications, Inc.

HTI Jeddito Middle-Mile/Last-Mile Project

Middle Mile

$1,090,471 Loan

$2,544,432 Grant

Hopi Telecommunications, Inc. (HTI) will deploy 61

miles of fiber-optic cable between the community

of Jeddito in its service area and the Frontier

Communications POP in Holbrook. In addition

to this fiber build-out, a last-mile component will

provide broadband service to currently unserved

subscribers around the communities of Jeddito and

Spider Mound. HTI will serve these subscribers using

wireless P2MP WiMAX access equipment. As the

middle-mile component is the predominant part of

the proposed system, this project is classified as a

middle-mile project. The network will make services

available to 2,734 households, 26 businesses, and 22

anchor institutions. The project will create 18 jobs.

J.C. Cullen, Inc.

Northern Arizona Data/Internet Network Extension 

(NADINE)

Middle Mile

$2,204,230 Grant

J.C. Cullen, Inc., will implement the NADINE project

to provide broadband service speeds of up to 300

Mbps in rural areas of the Havasupai Reservation

and two scientific research facilities. The project

will use licensed microwave radios with hot standby units. The project also includes a monitoring

system located at an existing operation center

and the utilization of five existing mountaintop communications sites for backhaul repeater

locations. The network will make services available

to 2,330 households, 8 businesses, and 20 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 22 jobs.

Midvale Telephone Exchange, Inc.

MTE Last Mile Broadband Connections Initiative 

Henderson Service Area

Last Mile

$334,924 Loan

$781,488 Grant

Midvale Telephone Exchange, Inc., will offer lastmile broadband service speeds of at least 20

Mbps in the Prescott Prairie, Mingus Meadows,

and Mingus Mountain areas of Henderson Valley

using FTTH technology. The network will make

services available to 117 households and 981

businesses. The project will create or save 10 jobs.

Midvale Telephone Exchange, Inc.

MTE Last Mile Broadband Connections Initiative 

Young Service Area

Last Mile

$644,045 Loan

$1,502,769 Grant

Midvale Telephone Exchange, Inc., will implement

the Last Mile Broadband Connections Initiative

Young Service Area project to provide service with

a minimum of 20 Mbps in rural areas of the Young

exchange. The project will use FTTH technology,

and will facilitate public safety training, improved

access to urban medical care centers, educational

access, and expanded access to urban library

services. The network will make services available

to 236 households, 14 businesses, and 1 anchor

institution. The project will create or save 10 jobs.
14 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

San Carlos Apache Telecommunications Utility, Inc.

San Carlos Apache Telecommunications, Inc. 

Broadband Offering

Last Mile

$5,244,585 Loan

$5,244,585 Grant

San Carlos Apache Telecommunications Utility, Inc.

(SCATUI) will provide FTTP services to two areas

within its serving areas on the San Carlos Apache

Reservation. In the Bylas PFSA, residents currently

are being compelled to relocate their homes to a

different area due to uncontrollable circumstances. 

This grant is crucial to providing these customers

with broadband Internet and phone service. Within

the San Carlos service area, FTTP services will

be provided to five new communities, a hospital,

and multiple doctor facilities that are currently

unserved. In addition, SCATUI will build five new

tower sites to provide broadband Internet service

for residents and emergency services personnel in

very remote areas of the reservation that are also

unserved. The network will make services available

to 2,377 households, 21 businesses, and 51 anchor

institutions. The project will create 63 jobs.

Tohono O’odham Utility Authority 

Tohono O’odham Fiber Route - Middle Mile

Middle Mile

$3,565,900 Loan

$3,565,900 Grant

Tohono O’odham Utility Authority (TOUA) will

enable high-speed DSL service throughout the

entire Tohono O’odham Reservation, with FTTP and

fixed wireless broadband in certain areas. This area

includes the three telephone exchanges currently

owned and operated by TOUA. The network will

offer a range of plans, with the most common

average broadband service speed supporting 2 Mbps

downstream and 512 Kbps upstream. TOUA also

plans to offer 1,000 free computers and 6 months

of free high-speed Internet service to those in need

who can demonstrate an economic development or

educational benefit. The network will make services

available to 2,307 households and 480 businesses.

Tohono O’odham Utility Authority

Tohono O’odham Last-Mile FTTH and Broadband 

Wireless Network

Last Mile

$2,576,750 Loan

$7,730,250 Grant

Tohono O’odham Utility Authority (TOUA) will

further develop its communications network to

improve current conditions in the Tohono O’odham

Nation. TOUA was awarded a middle-mile BIP loan

and grant (Easygrants ID 1767) in round one. This

last-mile project is synergistic with the recently

awarded project. Both the middle-mile and lastmile elements are integral to the total broadband

solution for the TOUA service area. The middle-mile

project allows TOUA to build a strong high-speed

transport network that will interconnect all the

last-mile nodes in this project. TOUA will leverage

its current investment in broadband access BLC

equipment to build an extensive FTTH network. In

conjunction with the project defined in the middlemile award, this project will extend broadband service

to nearly all the unserved and underserved lastmile sections in the entire PFSA Tohono O’odham

Reservation. The system will use a combination of

fiber-optic technology along with DSL and broadband

wireless and will enable service speeds beyond 20

Mbps. TOUA will also offer wireless services from

each of its BLC locations. These Wi-Fi areas can

be deployed quickly and economically. The project

will make services available to 2,711 households,

1,329 businesses, and 60 anchor institutions. 

The project will create more than 100 jobs.

ARKANSAS

Crystal Broadband Networks

Crystal Broadband Networks Southeast Arkansas 

WiMAX System

Last Mile

$1,808,881 Loan

$1,737,945 Grant

Crystal Broadband Networks will provide lastmile broadband service to more than 600 square

miles of rural Arkansas. The project will deploy a

fixed wireless network utilizing WiMAX technology

to offer broadband service speeds of at least 5

Mbps. The network will make services available to

2,399 households, 1,318 businesses, and 13 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 24 jobs. 
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 15

Northern Arkansas Telephone Company

Northern Arkansas Broadband

Last Mile

$2,569,636 Grant

Northern Arkansas Telephone Company will

substantially expand the provision of advanced

FTTH and ADSL2+ services via a fiber-optic network

with combined speeds exceeding 20 Mbps in

Marion and Boone counties in rural north central

Arkansas. The network will make services available

to 725 households, 70 businesses, and 10 anchor

institutions. The project will create 95 jobs.

Utopian Wireless Corporation

Utopian Searcy WiMAX Project

Last Mile

$744,165 Loan

$2,232,496 Grant

Utopian Wireless Corporation will provide wireless

broadband service to two rural underserved

communities near Searcy. These rural PFSAs cover

approximately 19,391 households, 2,050 businesses,

and 111 anchor institutions. Using its licensed 2.5G

Hz spectrum, Utopian will deploy a broadband

wireless system that features Motorola Mobile

WiMAX technology that will support 5.0 and 10

MHz channels. The system includes WiMAX access

points, wireless and wired backhaul, ASN-GW, CSN,

and an IP core that supports authentication and

the routing of traffic to application servers and the

Internet. Utopian will offer tiered services with an

average minimum wireless downlink speed of at

least 1.8 Mbps. The project will create 15 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Windstream Arkansas, LLC

Last Mile

$7,285,202 Grant

Windstream Corporation will expand broadband

service to unserved customers in rural areas of

Arkansas. With this project, Windstream will extend

the reach of its broadband network to make services

available to 6,111 households, 339 businesses, and

33 anchor institutions. It will provide broadband to

last-mile wireline telephone subscribers. Windstream

will provide broadband service to community and

public service facilities in the PFSAs at discounted

rate packages for at least 3 years. Windstream

will deploy industry standard DSLAM protocols to

provide a minimum of 6.0 Mbps downstream and 786

Kbps upstream data services. The DSLAM will be

strategically deployed to reach the greatest number

of unserved customers over its existing wireline

copper plant. The project will create or save 122 jobs.

CALIFORNIA

Audeamus

Westside Broadband Project for Rural Central 

California - San Joaquin, Tranquillity, and West 

Fresno

Last Mile Non-remote

$2,741,505 Loan

$2,741,505 Grant

Audeamus will build a fiber-based broadband

infrastructure for the unserved and underserved

communities of San Joaquin and Tranquillity

and for a portion of rural west Fresno County. 

This last-mile project will provide broadband

access to approximately 1,352 households, 125

local businesses, and 24 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save 93 jobs.
16 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Calaveras Telephone Company

Calaveras Fiber-to-the-Home Broadband Deployment 

Project

Last Mile

$1,226,093 Loan

$2,860,883 Grant

Calaveras Telephone Company will deploy FTTH

technology to increase the availability of broadband

service in Poker Flat, an area south of Copperopolis

in Calaveras County. The company will bring a

robust FTTH infrastructure to its existing customer

footprint in Calaveras County. Deployment is

based upon an overbuild and expansion of existing

exchange areas as well as an increased transport

route to the local Internet POP. The project’s

PFSA, which lies in the Sierra Nevada foothills, has

a unique mixture of broadband users that includes

remote workers from nearby economic centers

like Stockton, Sacramento, and San Francisco. The

project will make services available to 409 households

and 4 businesses. It includes upgraded transport

infrastructure to handle backhaul for existing and

new construction areas and effectively expands the

company’s broadband footprint. To accommodate

the varied demographics and subscriber profiles in

the served areas, Calaveras will use several service

offerings, ranging from 1.5 Mbps to 50 Mbps. The

network will incorporate GPON and active fiber

infrastructure with existing landline telephone

switching. The project will create or save eight jobs. 

Cal-Ore Communications, Inc.

North Siskiyou Wireless Broadband

Last Mile

$446,600 Loan

$1,339,800 Grant

Cal-Ore Communications, Inc., and Cal-Ore

Telephone Company will cooperate to build and

manage a last-mile wireless broadband project to

serve north central Siskiyou County. The general

mountainous terrain combined with dense stands of

juniper trees makes wireless coverage difficult and

requires additional radio sites to achieve coverage

across the area. The project will also provide IP

voice services over a wireless network. The PFSA

includes 2,022 households and 365 businesses

that are predominantly farms, ranches, and other

agricultural entities, and 27 anchor institutions. The

project will provide wireless broadband to unserved

and underserved communities and enhanced

backhaul capacity to neighboring blocks served by

Cal-Ore Communications and Cal-Ore Telephone

Company. The project will create five jobs.

Ponderosa Cablevision

Millerton Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$1,926,431 Loan

$1,926,431 Grant

Ponderosa Cablevision will deploy FTTP in a

31-square-mile area adjacent to Ponderosa’s current

service territory. The project will make telemedicine

and online education applications accessible, a

true benefit in an area where reaching the closest

medical and school facilities requires a 45-minute

drive. The network will make services available to 693

households. The project will create or save 34 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 17

Smarter Broadband

Smarter Broadband Project

Last Mile

$624,681 Loan

$1,874,043 Grant

Smarter Broadband will provide high-speed

broadband access to western Nevada County

over 435 square miles of rural, mountainous,

and wooded territory. Smarter Broadband

operates a network of wireless access points

spanning multiple towers throughout the PFSA. 

The company will deliver speeds up to 6 Mbps

and more to this largely underserved area. The

project will make services available to 14,075

households, 3,581 businesses, and 298 anchor

institutions. The project will create 10 jobs. 

Softcom Internet Communications, Inc.

Softcom Rural Broadband Expansion Project

Last Mile

$1,689,710 Loan

$5,069,125 Grant

Softcom Internet Communications, Inc., will provide

broadband service speeds of 3 Mbps downstream

and 1 Mbps upstream to an underserved rural

area in Sacramento and San Joaquin counties in

north central California. The project will cover 378

square miles and will make services available to

6,001 households, 4,266 businesses, and 5 anchor

institutions. The project network is based on

Softcom’s second-generation wireless platform, a

proven platform that has been in operation more

than 3 years. The project consists of augmenting and

expanding the coverage of this network to provide

100 percent broadband availability throughout the

entire service area. The project will create 38 jobs. 

COLORADO

Delta County Tele-Com, Inc.

Delta County Tele-Com, Inc., Broadband Project to 

Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$1,826,979 Grant

Delta County Tele-Com, Inc. (Delta County Tel),

a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will provide highspeed broadband service to three 100 percent rural

PFSAs with four communities in its service territory. 

These PFSAs have 540 premises (495 households

and 45 businesses) with no access to broadband

service. Delta County Tel is the State-certified

ILEC in Colorado. As engineered, the network will

deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology to its

fullest potential, provide VDSL2 access devices

packaged in an FTTN configuration, upgrade access

in the central office to support the extension of the

broadband networks to these remote areas, use

PON FTTH where economically feasible, and allow

future PON upgrades without needing to rebuild

the transport routes. The target speed is 20 Mbps

(upstream and downstream combined) or more DSL

service. This project will create or save 48 jobs.

Nunn Telephone Company

Nunn Rural Broadband Project

Last Mile

$1,293,125 Loan

$3,879,375 Grant

Nunn Telephone Company will provide highspeed broadband service to rural residents and

businesses in north central Colorado, utilizing FTTH

technologies. The network will make services

available to 373 households, 191 businesses, and 3

anchor institutions. The project will create 20 jobs.
18 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Peetz Cooperative Telephone Co.

Peetz Last Mile

Last Mile Remote

$756,925 Grant

Peetz Cooperative Telephone Co., will deploy

broadband infrastructure in and around the Peetz

community using a combination of technologies. This

deployment within the remote unserved ranching and

agricultural community will create jobs and stimulate

economic growth. Anchor institutions within the

community will have connectivity to necessary

distance learning and public safety applications. A

portion of this project will also be implemented in

Nebraska. The network will make services available

to 254 households, 15 businesses, and 6 anchor

institutions. The project will create five jobs.

Plains Cooperative Telephone Association, Inc.

Fiber on the Colorado Plains

Last Mile

$9,475,120 Loan

$1,672,080 Grant

Plains Cooperative Telephone Association, Inc.,

will offer FTTH broadband service on the eastern

plains of Colorado. The project will add 1,000

miles of fiber-optic cable over a 1,974 square-mile

area. The network will make services available to

1,096 households, 272 businesses, and 42 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 24 jobs.

Stoneham Cooperative Telephone Corporation

Stoneham FTTH

Last Mile

$234,541 Loan

$1,407,244 Grant

Stoneham Cooperative Telephone Corporation will

offer FTTH broadband service in Weld, Logan, and

Morgan counties, which consist of rural farming and

ranching territory. The network will make services

available to 62 households, 9 businesses, and 4 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save two jobs.

Wiggins Telephone Association

Weldona-Orchard FTTP

Last Mile Non-remote

$2,168,544 Loan

$2,159,887 Grant

Wiggins Telephone Association will deploy

FTTP infrastructure in the Weldona-Orchard

area of northeastern Colorado. The network

will make services available to 446 households,

40 businesses, and 7 anchor institutions. 

The project will create nine jobs.

Willard Telephone Company

Willard Telephone Company FTTH

Last Mile

$245,505 Loan

$546,442 Grant

Willard Telephone Company will upgrade its exchange

facilities located in western Logan County to offer

FTTH to the Willard Community, a non-designated

community in northeastern Colorado. The PFSA,

mainly farm and ranch land, is so remote that

residents do not receive daily newspapers and

some residents receive mail service only 3 days a

week. The network will make services available to 76

households, 8 businesses, and 3 anchor institutions. 

The project is expected to create or save 11 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 19

FLORIDA

Litestream Holdings, LLC

Western St. Lucie County Broadband Expansion

Last Mile

$5,053,427 Grant

Litestream Holdings will extend its existing fiber trunk

to serve more than 940 unserved locations in a rural

portion of unincorporated St. Lucie County. The PFSA

will have access to high-speed Internet, digital voice

service, and analog and digital high-definition video

services. The project will implement FTTH using

RFoG technology that allows seamless end-to-end

conversion of traditional coax RF signals over fiberoptic cable. RFoG technology will allow Litestream

to leverage its existing 860 MHz RF head-end and

DOCSIS-based Internet distribution framework, thus

reducing cost. The project will be constructed in four

phases across approximately 54 miles of trunk fiber

to connect with the existing network infrastructure, 111

miles of lateral fiber, and 72 miles of community fiber. 

Maximum combined download and upload speeds

will exceed 20 Mbps on the maximum tiered level

of service offered. The project will create 52 jobs.

Myakka Communications, Inc.

Myakka Communications

Last Mile

$1,963,930 Loan

$5,891,796 Grant

Myakka Communications will deploy a fiber overbuild

and expansion of the wireless network of its sister

company, Myakka Technologies. The project will serve

a rural portion of Florida that has no cable, DSL, or

fiber infrastructure. It will serve rural eastern portions

of Manatee and Sarasota counties with speeds of up

to 20 Mbps. The project will deploy approximately

150 miles of fiber-optic cable and will make services

available to 4,150 premises. This overbuild will

provide a hybrid, efficient, and economical system of

fiber and wireless. The project will create 49 jobs.

Quincy Telephone Company

Quincy Telephone Company: Broadband Project to 

Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$1,145,379 Grant

Quincy Telephone Company will offer broadband

service speeds of up to 20 Mbps in Gadsden

County, Florida and Decatur County, Georgia. As

engineered, the network will deploy Ethernet-overcopper technology and will provide VDSL2 access

via FTTN. The network will make services available

to 346 households, 12 businesses, and 2 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 30 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Windstream Florida, Inc.

Last Mile

$38,288,349 Grant

Windstream Corporation will expand broadband

service to unserved customers in rural areas of

Florida. The project will allow Windstream to

extend the reach of its broadband network to make

services available to 50,026 households, 4,765

businesses, and 149 anchor institutions. It will

provide broadband to last-mile wireline telephone

subscribers. Windstream will provide broadband

service to community and public service facilities in

the PFSAs at discounted rate packages for at least

3 years. Windstream will deploy industry-standard

DSLAM protocols to provide a minimum of 6.0

Mbps downstream and 786 Kbps upstream data

services. The DSLAM will be strategically deployed

to reach the greatest number of unserved customers

over its existing wireline copper plant. The project

is expected to create an estimated 226 jobs.
20 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

GEORGIA

Blue Ridge Telephone Company

Blue Ridge Telephone Company: Broadband Project 

to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$853,768 Grant

Blue Ridge Telephone Company (Blue Ridge Tel),

a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will build a highspeed broadband network in Georgia in two 100

percent rural PFSAs with three communities. These

PFSAs have 368 premises (352 households and 16

businesses) with no access to broadband service. 

Blue Ridge Tel is the State-certified ILEC in Georgia. 

As engineered, the network will deploy Ethernet-overcopper technology, provide VDSL2 access devices

packaged in an FTTN configuration, upgrade access

in the central office to support the extension of the

broadband networks to these remote areas, use

PON FTTH where economically feasible, and allow

future PON upgrades without needing to rebuild the

transport routes. The network’s target speed is 20

Mbps (upstream and downstream combined) or more

DSL service. The project will create or save 22 jobs.

Bulldog Cable Georgia, Inc.

Bulldog Cable - Lake Sinclair System

Last Mile

$2,843,713 Loan

$8,531,138 Grant

Bulldog Cable Georgia, Inc., will offer advanced

broadband service speeds of up to 5 Mbps in the

area of Lake Sinclair. The project will upgrade 42

miles of cable with new 1 GHz cable and expand an

additional 163 miles of new construction for a total

of 205 miles of HFC cable. The network will make

services available to 5,025 households and 1,369

businesses. The project will create or save 59 jobs.

Darien Telephone Company, Inc.

Broadband Bridge to Sapelo Island

Last Mile

$223,996 Loan

$223,997 Grant

Darien Telephone Company, Inc., will expand highspeed broadband service to Sapelo Island, a barrier

island off the coast of Georgia currently without

access to high-speed broadband, using FTTH GPON

technology. The network will make services available

to 240 households, 10 businesses, and 10 anchor

institutions and will help drive economic development

in the community. The project will create 23 jobs.

Flint Cable TV, Inc.

Flint Digital Wave

Last Mile Non-remote

$4,095,913 Loan

$4,095,913 Grant

Flint Cable TV, Inc., will provide an HFC network

to homes in the underserved areas of Culloden,

Friendship, and Yatesville in rural central Georgia. 

This HFC network will use the latest DOCSIS 3.0

cable standard, enabling channel bonding and speeds

up to 100 Mbps. The network will make services

available to 2,786 households, 22 businesses, and 19

anchor institutions. The project will create 20 jobs.

Quincy Telephone Company

Quincy Telephone Company: Broadband Project to 

Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$218,168 Grant

Quincy Telephone Company will offer broadband

service speeds of up to 20 Mbps in Gadsden

County, Florida and Decatur County, Georgia. As

engineered, the network will deploy Ethernetover-copper technology and will provide VDSL2

access via FTTN. The network will make services

available to 66 households and 2 businesses. 

The project will create or save six jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 21

South Georgia Regional Information Technology 

Authority

SGRITA Rural Last Mile Infrastructure Project

Last Mile

$6,663,515 Loan

$6,663,515 Grant

South Georgia Regional Information Technology

Authority will offer 700 MHz and 2.5 GHz 4G mobile

and fixed wireless broadband service in the rural

southwest counties of Baker, Calhoun, Early, Miller, and

Mitchell. The network will make services available to

21,033 households, 2,272 businesses, and 246 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save eight jobs.

Wilkes Telephone & Electric Company

Wilkes Telephone Company FTTH Build-Out

Last Mile

$14,433,762 Loan

$33,678,779 Grant

Wilkes Telephone & Electric Company will provide

state-of-the-art communication services while

enhancing broadband communication options

to the citizens of Lincoln, Taliaferro, and Wilkes

counties. The network will make services available

to 7,832 households, 802 businesses, and 58

anchor institutions, providing infrastructure for

affordable bandwidth and services, and will integrate

economic development, employment, education,

public safety, public health, and other government

services. The technology will be an FTTH wireline

fiber-optic cable network, configured in PON

architecture, able to support speeds in excess

of 20 Gbps. The project will create 74 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Georgia Windstream, LLC

Last Mile

$4,665,116 Grant

Windstream Corporation will offer broadband

service speeds of up to 12 Mbps in the counties

of Appling, Charlton, Dodge, Early, Miller, Rabun,

Seminole, Tattnall, Telfair, Upson, Walker, and

Wayne by deploying DSLAMs using ADSL2+. The

network will make services available to 4,033

households, 284 businesses, and 35 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 54 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Windstream Georgia Communications, LLC

Last Mile

$5,129,575 Grant

Windstream Corporation will provide last-mile

broadband service to numerous unserved rural

areas of Georgia. Windstream will deploy industrystandard DSLAMs using ADSL2+ protocols to

provide a minimum of 6 Mbps downstream and

786 Kbps upstream data services. DSLAMs will

be strategically deployed to reach the greatest

number of unserved customers over the existing

wireline copper plant. The project will make

services available to 18,503 households, 2,037

businesses, and 119 anchor institutions. The

project will create an estimated 55 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Windstream Standard, LLC

Last Mile

$6,940,375 Grant

Windstream Corporation will expand broadband

service to unserved customers in rural areas of

Georgia. The PFSA comprises the 21 communities

of Baldwin, Blairsville, Clarkesville, Cleveland,

Cornelia, Dahlonega, Dawsonville, Helen, Hiawassee,

Ivylog, Juno, Macedonia, Mineral Bluff, Morganton,

Notla, Suches, Three Sisters Mountains, Tiger,

Toccoa, Turnerville, and Young Harris. The project

will allow Windstream to extend the reach of its

broadband network to make services available to

12,177 households, 743 businesses, and 58 anchor

institutions and provide broadband to last-mile

wireline telephone subscribers. The project also will

allow Windstream to provide broadband service

to 61 community and public safety facilities in

the PFSA. The project will use industry standard

ADSL2+ protocols that will allow customers to

enjoy broadband at speeds of up to 12 Mbps. 

The project will create an estimated 73 jobs.
22 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

HAWAII

Big Island Broadband/Aloha Broadband, Inc.

Aloha Broadband Kohala

Last Mile Remote

$106,503 Loan

Aloha Broadband will provide affordable terrestrial

fixed wireless broadband service to the community

of North Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii. The

area is not currently served by any broadband

service provider. The network will make services

available to 553 households, 35 businesses, and 9

anchor institutions. The project will create five jobs.

IDAHO

Coeur d’Alene Tribe

Coeur d’Alene Reservation FTTH Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$6,142,879 Loan

$6,142,879 Grant

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe will deploy an FTTH

broadband system to provide improved broadband

service to anchor institutions, critical community

facilities, and approximately 3,770 unserved and

underserved households in the communities

of DeSmet, Plummer, Tensed, and Worley. The

project will include service to isolated farms and

rural home sites on the Coeur d’Alene Indian

Reservation in northern Idaho. The network will

make services available to 429 businesses and

21 anchor institutions and will create 30 jobs.

Midvale Telephone Exchange, Inc.

MTE Last Mile Broadband Connections Initiative 

Stanley Service Area

Last Mile

$380,751 Loan

$888,420 Grant

Midvale Telephone Exchange, Inc., will offer lastmile broadband service speeds of at least 20

Mbps in the rural town of Stanley using FTTH

technology. The network will make services available

to 205 households, 31 businesses, and 6 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 10 jobs.

Potlatch Telephone Company

Potlatch Telephone Company: Broadband Project to 

Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$2,013,722 Grant

Potlatch Telephone Company (Potlatch Tel), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will provide high-speed

broadband service to unserved premises in 100

percent rural Idaho. The project will serve five

PFSAs with four communities. These PFSAs have

306 premises (296 households and 10 businesses)

with no access to broadband service. Potlatch Tel

is the State-certified ILEC in Idaho. As engineered,

the network will deploy Ethernet-over-copper

technology, provide VDSL2 access devices packaged

in an FTTN configuration, upgrade access in the

central office to support the extension of the

broadband networks to these remote areas, use

PON FTTH where economically feasible, and allow

future PON upgrades without needing to rebuild

the transport routes. The target speed is 20 Mbps

(upstream and downstream combined) or more DSL

service. This project will create or save 53 jobs.

ILLINOIS

Cellular Properties, Inc.

Eastern Illinois Broadband Deployment

Last Mile

$6,132,260 Loan

$6,132,260 Grant

Cellular Properties, Inc. (CPI) will upgrade an existing

wireless network to 3G wireless to provide mobile

and fixed wireless broadband to extremely rural and

predominantly underserved areas of east central Illinois.

The project will deploy FTTT where economically

feasible to provide an eventual migration path to

4G/LTE. Initially, the 3G network will offer speeds

of 7.2 Mbps downstream and 3.6 Mbps upstream. 

The three PFSAs are 99 percent rural and cover 11

counties and 36 communities. The communities

include 26,605 households, 7,123 businesses, and 704

anchor institutions. CPI will upgrade to a 3G network

through an overlay on existing cell sites, coupled

with a build of new cell sites. The PFSAs constitute

48 of the 100 towers CPI plans to construct or

upgrade to a 3G universal mobile telecommunications

system. The project will create 267 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 23

Convergence Technologies, Inc.

CTI Rural Open Access WiMAX Network

Last Mile

$1,434,375 Loan

$4,303,125 Grant

Convergence Technologies, Inc., will offer last-mile

wireless broadband and VoIP in Cook, Kankakee,

and Will counties in Illinois and Lake, Newton,

and Porter counties in Indiana. The project will

utilize WiMAX technology as a platform to deliver

broadband service speeds of up to 11 Mbps. The

network will make services available to 43,755

households, 9,497 businesses, and 3 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 26 jobs.

Norlight, Inc.

Illinois VDB Network Expansion

Last Mile

$3,311,324 Loan

$7,726,423 Grant

Norlight, Inc., will implement the Illinois VDB

Network Expansion project to provide a wireless

network to 13 unserved and underserved areas in

central Illinois. This fixed wireless deployment will

consist of a network of 72 towers providing highspeed broadband of greater than 5 Mbps. Counties

covered include all or parts of Bond, Calhoun,

Cass, Christian, Fayette, Greene, Jersey, Macoupin,

Montgomery, Morgan, Pike, Scott, and Shelby. The

network will make services available to 75,253

households, 9,737 businesses, and 804 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 36 jobs.

Shawnee Telephone Company

Shawnee’s FTTH Project: Focused Economic 

Revitalization and Sustainable Transformation of 

Southern Illinois

Last Mile

$6,249,989 Loan

$1,102,940 Grant

Shawnee Telephone Company will deploy an FTTH

network capable of 1 Gbps broadband service

speeds in PFSAs that rank among the lowest in per

household income and the highest in unemployment

in southern Illinois. The network will make services

available to 1,209 households, 438 businesses, and 35

anchor institutions. The project will create 91 jobs.

Utopian Wireless Corporation

Utopian Bushnell WiMAX Project

Last Mile

$66,091 Loan

$198,271 Grant

Utopian Wireless Corporation will provide 4G wireless

broadband service to underserved communities near

Bushnell. The PFSA is rural and covers approximately

1,481 households, 102 businesses, and 32 anchor

institutions. Utopian will deploy a broadband

wireless system that features Motorola Mobile WiMAX

technology for efficient air interface optimized for IP,

built-in support for advanced antenna technologies

like MIMO, and quality-of-service controls that enable

differentiated services and open access. The system

includes WiMAX access points, wireless and wired

backhaul, ASN-GW, CSN, and an IP core that supports

authentication and traffic routing to application

servers and the Internet. Utopian will offer tiered

services with average minimum downlink speeds of

at least 1.8 Mbps. The project will create 10 jobs.

Utopian Wireless Corporation

Utopian Cairo WiMAX Project

Last Mile

$68,686 Loan

$206,055 Grant

The Utopian Cairo WiMAX project will make

available advanced 4G wireless broadband service

to underserved communities in and around Cairo. 

The PFSA includes the 62914 ZIP code area in

Alexander County, where Cairo is the county

seat. The PFSA is rural and covers approximately

1,746 households, 87 businesses, and 43 anchor

institutions. Using licensed 2.5 GHz spectrum,

Utopian will deploy a broadband wireless system

that features Motorola Mobile WiMAX technology,

which offers several advantages over other wireless

technologies, including a highly efficient air interface

optimized for IP, built-in support for advanced

antenna technologies like MIMO, and quality-ofservice controls that enable differentiated services

and open access. The project will create 10 jobs.
24 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Utopian Wireless Corporation

Utopian Flora WiMAX Project

Last Mile

$129,714 Loan

$389,141 Grant

Utopian Wireless Corporation will provide 4G wireless

broadband service to underserved communities

near Flora. The rural PFSA covers approximately

2,791 households, 276 businesses, and 86 anchor

institutions. Utopian will deploy a broadband

wireless system that features Motorola Mobile WiMAX

technology for efficient air interface optimized for IP,

built-in support for advanced antenna technologies

like MIMO, and quality-of-service controls that enable

differentiated services and open access. The system

includes WiMAX access points, wireless and wired

backhaul, ASN-GW, CSN, and an IP core that supports

traffic authentication and routing to application

servers and the Internet. Utopian will offer tiered

services with average minimum downlink speeds of

at least 1.8 Mbps. Utopian will hire full-time local staff

in the PFSA, including up to three sales people to

prepare for launch. The project will create 10 jobs.

Utopian Wireless Corporation

Utopian Monmouth WiMAX Project

Last Mile

$150,063 Loan

$450,189 Grant

The Utopian Monmouth WiMAX project will make

available advanced 4G wireless broadband service

to underserved communities in the Monmouth area. 

The PFSA includes the 61462 ZIP code area in Warren

County, where Monmouth is the county seat. The

PFSA covers 4,419 households, 290 businesses,

and 95 anchor institutions. Using licensed 2.5 GHz

spectrum, Utopian Wireless Corporation will deploy

a broadband wireless system that features Motorola

Mobile WiMAX technology. The average minimum

downlink speeds for Utopian Wireless subscribers will

be at least 1.8 Mbps. The project will create 10 jobs.

Utopian Wireless Corporation

Utopian White Hall WiMAX Project

Last Mile

$63,594 Loan

$190,780 Grant

The Utopian White Hall WiMAX project will make

available advanced 4G wireless broadband service

to underserved communities in and around White

Hall. The PFSA includes the 62092 ZIP code area

in Greene County. The PFSA is rural and covers

1,224 households, 147 businesses, and 36 anchor

institutions. Utilizing licensed 2.5 GHz spectrum,

Utopian will deploy a broadband wireless system that

features Motorola Mobile WiMAX technology. WiMAX

offers a number of advantages over other wireless

technologies, including a highly efficient air interface

optimized for IP, built-in support for advanced

antenna technologies like MIMO, and quality-ofservice controls that enable differentiated services

and open access. The project will create 10 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 25

INDIANA

Camden Telephone Company, Inc.

Camden Telephone Company, Inc.: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$1,089,955 Grant

Camden Telephone Company, Inc. (Camden Tel), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed

broadband service to unserved premises in its rural

franchise service territory. Camden Tel is the Statecertified ILEC in Indiana. The project will serve five

PFSAs, located within its franchise service territory,

which are 100 percent rural and include three

communities. This project will build a broadband

network that will make services available to 326

rural unserved premises (309 households and 17

businesses) to provide them with access to highspeed broadband service (20 Mbps upstream and

downstream combined). The project will provide

DSL broadband capability to unserved premises and

deliver broadband high-speed capabilities of 20 Mbps

(upstream and downstream combined). The project

will deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology, provide

VDSL2 access devices that are packaged in an FTTN

configuration, and upgrade access in the central office

to support the extension of the broadband networks

to these remote areas. The project will use PON FTTH

where economically feasible and allow for future PON

upgrades without needing to rebuild the transport

routes. The project will create or save 29 jobs.

Convergence Technologies, Inc.

CTI Rural Open Access WiMAX Network

Last Mile

$1,378,125 Loan

$4,134,375 Grant

Convergence Technologies, Inc., will offer last-mile

wireless broadband and VoIP in Cook, Kankakee, and

Will counties in Illinois and Lake, Newton, and Porter

counties in Indiana. The project will utilize WiMAX

technology as a platform to deliver broadband

service speeds of up to 11 Mbps. The network will

make services available to 42,039 households,

9,124 businesses, and 3 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save more than 25 jobs.

DigitalBridge Communications Corp.

Round 2: IN-Franklin Last Mile

Last Mile

$397,224 Loan

$397,224 Grant

DigitalBridge Communications Corp., will provide

4G broadband service to unserved and underserved

portions of Franklin County. The project will

utilize last-mile broadband access via fixed and

mobile WiMAX technology. Service will include

Internet access and VoIP service speeds of up to 4

Mbps. The network will make services available to

2,673 households, 266 businesses, and 41 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save six jobs.

Home Telephone Company, Inc.

Home Telephone Company, Inc.: Broadband Project 

to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$416,743 Grant

Home Telephone Company, Inc. (Home Tel), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed

broadband service to unserved premises in its rural

franchise service territory. Home Tel is the Statecertified ILEC in Indiana. The project will serve two

100 percent rural PFSAs, which have 178 premises

(176 households and 2 businesses) with no access to

broadband service. The project will build a network

to provide access to high-speed broadband service

(20 Mbps upstream and downstream combined). The

network will deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology,

provide VDSL2 access devices that are packaged in

an FTTN configuration, upgrade access in the central

office to support the extension of the broadband

networks to these remote areas, use PON FTTH

where economically feasible, and allow for future PON

upgrades without needing to rebuild the transport

routes. The project will create or save 11 jobs.
26 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Sunman Telecommunications, Inc.

Sunman 700-MHz WiMAX Wireless Broadband Plan

Last Mile Non-remote

$5,694,611 Loan

$5,694,611 Grant

Sunman Telecommunications will create a 700 MHz

WiMAX build-out plan to serve rural communities

within Indiana. This project will provide needed

broadband service to households, businesses, and

key community organizations in underserved rural

communities. About 1 percent of this network

will also serve a small area in Kentucky. The

network will make services available to 52,657

households, 11,025 businesses, and 135 anchor

institutions. The project will create 25 jobs.

Tipton Telephone Company, Inc.

Tipton Telephone Company, Inc.: Broadband Project 

to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$1,011,971 Grant

Tipton Telephone Company, Inc. (Tipton Tel),

a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring highspeed broadband service to unserved premises

in its rural franchise service territory. Tipton Tel

is the State-certified ILEC in Indiana. The project

will serve three 100 percent rural PFSAs, which

include two communities with 382 premises (332

households and 50 businesses) with no access to

any broadband service. As engineered, the network

will deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology,

provide VDSL2 access devices that are packaged

in an FTTN configuration, upgrade access in the

central office to support the extension of the

broadband networks to these remote areas, use

PON FTTH where economically feasible, and allow

for future PON upgrades without needing to rebuild

the transport routes. Target speed to unserved

customers is at 20 Mbps (upstream and downstream

combined). The project will create or save 27 jobs.

Tri-County Telephone Company, Inc.

Tri-County Telephone Company, Inc.: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$593,273 Grant

Tri-County Telephone Company, Inc. (Tri-County

Tel), a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring highspeed broadband service to unserved premises in

its rural franchise service territory. Tri-County Tel is

the State-certified ILEC in Indiana. The project will

serve three 100 percent rural PFSAs in its franchise

service territory, which includes five communities. 

Within the PFSAs, there are 245 premises (234

households, 10 businesses, and 1 anchor institution)

with no access to broadband service. The project

will deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology, provide

VDSL2 access devices that are packaged in an

FTTN configuration, upgrade access in the central

office to support the extension of the broadband

networks to these remote areas, use PON FTTH

where economically feasible, and allow for future

PON upgrades without needing to rebuild the

transport routes. The target speed to unserved

customers is 20 Mbps (upstream and downstream

combined). The project will create or save 16 jobs.

IOWA

Breda Telephone Corporation

Breda and Lidderdale Town and Rural Fiber-to-thePremises Overbuild

Last Mile

$783,572 Loan

$1,828,337 Grant

Breda Telephone Corporation will overbuild with

FTTP two of its seven rural ILEC exchanges,

which are adjacent to each other in west central

Iowa. The overbuild would allow high-speed

Internet and video services to reach all of the

customers in the Breda and Lidderdale exchanges,

supplementing their present landline phone

services. The network will make services available

to 609 households, 77 businesses, and 3 anchor

institutions. The project will create 56 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 27

Clear Lake Independent Telephone Company, Inc.

Clear Lake Independent Telephone Company: Fiberto-the-Home Broadband Deployment Project

Last Mile

$2,373,138 Loan

$5,537,324 Grant

Clear Lake Independent Telephone Company, Inc.,

will deploy FTTH broadband as a key part of the

infrastructure development needed to drive and

sustain economic growth and community vitality. 

The project will serve 3,991 households, 342

businesses, and 22 anchor institutions, with

893 households, 20 businesses, and 1 anchor

institution in the PFSA. Service tiers will run

from 3 to 20 Mbps. The network design uses

PON infrastructure over existing Calix Networks

systems. Existing systems for POTS, data, and

video services will be integrated with the new fiberoptic network. The project will create two jobs.

C-M-L Telephone Cooperative Association

Meriden and Archer Fiber-to-the-Home Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$1,519,225 Grant

C-M-L Telephone Cooperative Association will

deploy FTTH technology to provide broadband

service via fiber-optic network to rural Iowa

communities, including Archer and Meriden. The

C-M-L Telephone Cooperative Association will offer

services that include high-speed Internet exceeding

20 Mbps, digital television, and telephone service. 

The network will make services available to 285

households, 14 businesses, and 2 anchor institutions. 

Eastlight, LLC

Southeast Iowa Rural Wireless Broadband

Last Mile Non-remote

$3,836,926 Loan

Eastlight, LLC will serve more than 80 small rural

communities with high-speed, affordable Internet

using wireless technology. The Southeast Iowa

Rural Wireless Broadband project will extend highspeed broadband coverage into villages, towns,

and unincorporated areas of 12 Iowa counties

across 6,226 square miles with 144,000 residents

in unserved and underserved areas. The network

will make services available to 61,236 households,

31,014 businesses, and 370 anchor institutions. 

The project will create an estimated 40 jobs.

Ellsworth Cooperative Telephone Association

Ellsworth Fiber-to-the-Home Broadband Deployment 

Project

Last Mile

$1,580,609 Loan

$3,688,087 Grant

Ellsworth Cooperative Telephone Association

will provide high-speed Internet service in the

communities of Ellsworth and Garden City and

their surrounding rural areas via an FTTH network. 

The network will make services available to

502 households, 305 businesses, and 8 anchor

institutions. The project will create one job.

F&B Communications, Inc.

F&B Communications FTTH Stimulus Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$1,628,588 Loan

$1,609,162 Grant

F&B Communications will deploy FTTH technology to

provide advanced broadband service via a high-speed

fiber-optic network, with speeds exceeding 20 Mbps,

to the rural areas surrounding the Iowa communities

of Bennett, Delmar, and Lowden. The system will also

allow for expansion at a future date. The network

will make services available to 444 households. 

The project will create an estimated 25 jobs.

Farmers’ Telephone Company

Farmers’ Telephone Company Fiber-to-the-Premises 

Overbuild

Last Mile

$9,367,926 Loan

$9,367,927 Grant

Farmers’ Telephone Company will construct an

FTTP network to provide greater than 20 Mbps

broadband access to households and businesses in

the exchange areas of Greene, Little Cedar, Marble

Rock, New Haven, Plymouth, Riceville, St. Ansgar, and

Stacyville. The network will make services available

to 3,284 households, 148 businesses, and 22 anchor

institutions. The project will create 255 jobs.
28 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Grand River Mutual Telephone Corporation

Grand River Mutual Fiber-to-the-Home Broadband 

Deployment Project - Service Area 4

Last Mile

$2,788,293 Loan

$6,506,016 Grant

Grand River Mutual Telephone Corporation will

provide broadband service to the towns of Lorimor,

Murray, and Thayer and their surrounding rural areas

via an FTTH network. The network will make services

available to 1,074 homes, 498 businesses, and 10

anchor institutions. The project will create 22 jobs.

Grand River Mutual Telephone Corporation

Grand River Mutual Fiber-to-the-Home Broadband 

Deployment Project - Service Area 5

Last Mile

$5,108,257 Loan

$11,919,267 Grant

Grand River Mutual Telephone Corporation

will provide broadband service to the towns of

Allerton, Corydon, Lineville, and Millerton, Iowa

and Powersville, Missouri and their surrounding

rural areas. The network will make services

available to 1,677 households, 285 businesses, and

30 anchor institutions along the Iowa-Missouri

border. The project will create 34 jobs.

Hospers Telephone Exchange, Inc.

HTC Fiber-to-the-Home Broadband Deployment 

Project

Last Mile

$2,497,621 Loan

$5,827,781 Grant

Hospers Telephone Exchange, Inc., will serve one

PFSA in the town of Hospers and its surrounding rural

areas in Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola, and Sioux counties. 

The network in this PFSA will make services available

to 859 households, 168 businesses, and 9 anchor

institutions. Hospers will provide voice or POTS,

Internet access, and video services over a GPON

FTTH. Hospers will use connections to FiberNet

to provide high-bandwidth Internet connectivity. 

Customers will have an uninterruptible power

supply and an optical network terminal installed

on premises to convert the fiber-based access

network to the copper-based systems used in the

home. The Hospers Area Development Corporation

currently finds it difficult to serve the needs of local

businesses and attract new business development

to the area, in part because it lacks an adequate

broadband infrastructure. The project will aid

economic development in the communities it serves

by providing faster connections to businesses. The

project will create or save an estimated eight jobs. 

Iowa Telecommunications Services, Inc.

Connecting Rural Iowa: High-Speed Broadband 

Expansion 1

Last Mile

$5,163,935 Grant

Iowa Telecommunications Services, Inc. (Iowa

Telecom), an ILEC, will provide an FTTN network to

deliver broadband service using DSL technology. In

the 42 PFSAs that comprise this last-mile network,

Iowa Telecom will establish new DLC/DSL nodes to

expand high-speed broadband capability to deliver

broadband speeds of 3 Mbps up to 15 Mbps for

residential and business customers. The project

will make services available to approximately

2,908 households and 7,367 businesses. During

the initial 5-year period, some of the FTTN fiber

will be used for backhaul facilities for multiple

wireless carriers as they expand more deeply into

rural markets. The project will create 21 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 29

Iowa Telecommunications Services, Inc.

Connecting Rural Iowa: High-Speed Broadband 

Expansion 2

Last Mile

$12,236,836 Grant

Iowa Telecommunications Services, Inc. (Iowa

Telecom), an ILEC, will provide an FTTN network to

deliver broadband service using DSL technology. 

Iowa Telecom will establish new DLC/DSL nodes

to expand high-speed broadband capability to

80 PFSAs that comprise this last-mile network to

deliver broadband speeds of 3 Mbps up to 15 Mbps

for residential and business customers. This project

will make services available to approximately 3,717

households and 14,291 businesses. During the

initial 5-year period, some of the FTTN fiber will

be used to provide backhaul facilities for multiple

wireless carriers as they expand more deeply into

rural markets. The project will create 21 jobs.

La Motte Telephone Company

Springbrook Wireless Internet Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$187,815 Loan

$187,815 Grant

La Motte Telephone Company will provide wireless

broadband service from a 300-foot tower and

WiMAX installation. This project is expected to

primarily serve homes in an underserved rural

area. The network will make services available

to 264 households, 6 businesses, and 2 anchor

institutions. The project will create four jobs.

Municipal Communications Utility of the City of 

Cedar Falls (Cedar Falls Utilities)

CFU Broadband Expansion

Last Mile

$873,433 Grant

Cedar Falls Utilities will offer broadband service

speeds of up to 50 Mbps in rural Black Hawk,

Butler, and Grundy counties. The new broadband

system will employ a combination of state-of-theart broadband wireless and FTTP technologies in

an area that is 90 percent unserved. The network

will make services available to 701 households and

259 businesses. The project will create 11 jobs.

Southwest Telephone Exchange, Inc.

Southwest Iowa Fiber-to-the-Home Broadband 

Deployment Project

Last Mile

$1,796,199 Loan

$4,191,131 Grant

Southwest Telephone Exchange, Inc., will provide

broadband service to the towns of Emerson,

Henderson, Imogene, and their surrounding rural

areas. The network will make services available to 587

households, 55 businesses, and 9 anchor institutions in

Fremont, Mills, Montgomery, Page, and Pottawattamie

counties. The project will create six jobs.

Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association

WCTA 2010 Broadband Initiative

Last Mile

$8,245,610 Loan

$8,245,610 Grant

Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association

(WCTA) will provide last-mile high-speed wireline

broadband FTTP to rural areas in north-central Iowa

and south-central Minnesota. The infrastructure will

support existing rural wireless tower facilities for

future growth and bandwidth expansion to 3G and

4G networks and beyond. The project will build on a

previously deployed FTTN system. The PFSA serves

portions of 21 communities in 5 counties in Iowa and 2

counties in Minnesota. This project will make services

available to 2,839 premises, including 138 mainly

home businesses, and will offer broadband service at

combined speeds ranging from 5 Mbps to 25 Mbps. 

WCTA will also offer digital video and unlimited local

voice services. The project will create or save 40 jobs.

KANSAS

H & B Communications, Inc.

FTTH - Rural Ellinwood and Claflin, Kansas

Last Mile

$1,965,455 Loan

$4,586,064 Grant

H & B Communications, Inc., will provide high-speed

broadband to the rural communities surrounding

Claflin and Ellinwood. The network will serve

751 households, 91 businesses, and 23 anchor

institutions. The project will create five jobs.
30 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Home Communications, Inc.

Rural Canton FTTP

Last Mile

$601,464 Loan

$1,403,415 Grant

Home Communications, Inc. (HCI) will upgrade its

network, installing FTTP facilities to eliminate a lastmile bottleneck in rural areas of Canton. HCI provides

broadband service to more than 1,200 customers in

Kansas. This upgrade will provide access to higher

bandwidth for its customers. HCI already offers

FTTP service in the town portion of this exchange;

therefore, the town of Canton is excluded from

this PFSA. None of the premises in this PFSA has

access to 5 Mbps service (upstream and downstream

combined). The project will make services available

to 253 premises (219 households, 24 businesses, and

10 anchor institutions). HCI will implement FTTP using

GPON, International Telecommunication Union, and

Full Service Access Networks G.984 standards. This

project will create or save an estimated three jobs.

Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska

Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska Fiber-to-thePremise

Last Mile

$764,833 Grant

The Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska will build

an FTTP network on its federally recognized

reservation. The network will be the first of its

type in the area. The FTTP network will cover 100

percent of the PFSA and make services available

to 68 households, 12 businesses, and 10 anchor

institutions. Although the public service entities are

under the jurisdiction of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas

and Nebraska, they often provide services to the

surrounding communities. The project will provide

Internet access using a buried FTTP network for

high reliability and exceptional capacity and speed. 

Broadband service speeds will be up to 20 Mbps

(15 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream). The

project will use a technological agnostic distribution

system to increase the economic efficiency of its

network. The project will create three jobs, and

an advanced network will generate economic

development and job opportunities in the area. 

JBN Telephone Company, Inc.

JBN East Towns

Last Mile

$1,000,568 Loan

$2,323,576 Grant

JBN Telephone Company, Inc., will deploy

FTTP broadband throughout the towns of

Corning, Goff, Havensville, Netawaka, Soldier,

and Wetmore. The network will serve 427

households, 29 businesses, and 21 anchor

institutions. The project will create three jobs.

Madison Telephone, LLC

Madison-Lamont FTTP

Last Mile Non-remote

$3,519,750 Loan

$3,519,750 Grant

Madison Telephone, LLC will deploy FTTP

technology throughout its certified service area,

including the telephone exchanges of Madison and

Lamont. The network will make services available

to 601 households, 81 businesses, and 40 anchor

institutions. The project will create nine jobs.

Peoples Telecommunications, LLC

Peoples Telecommunications Rural FTTP

Last Mile

$3,891,062 Loan

$3,891,061 Grant

Peoples Telecommunications, LLC (PTL) will

upgrade the LaCygne telephone exchange to

eliminate the last-mile bottleneck in the rural area

and provide access to high-speed broadband for

premises with no broadband service. The project

will make services available to 760 households, 50

businesses, and 7 anchor institutions in this rural

area. PTL will offer high-speed data and voice

services over FTTP facilities at speeds of 15 Mbps

downstream and 5 Mbps upstream. PTL provides

broadband service to more than 500 customers

in the LaCygne exchange and extending coverage

with this project will promote rural economic

development. The project will create or save 10 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 31

Rural Telephone Service Co., Inc.

Rural Opportunities Delivered

Last Mile Non-remote

$51,612,842 Loan

$49,588,807 Grant

Rural Telephone Service Co., will provide service in

a 4,600-square-mile area of western Kansas that

is 99.5 percent unserved and underserved. The

project will provide a rural infrastructure required for

economic stability, education, and healthcare. Rural

Telephone leads a team of seven companies with

this shovel-ready project. A portion of this project

will also be implemented in Nebraska. The network

will make services available to 18,342 households,

4,372 businesses, and 335 anchor institutions. 

The project will create an estimated 179 jobs.

South Central Telephone Association, Inc.

Lake City & Sun City Rural FTTH

Last Mile Remote

$871,200 Grant

South Central Telephone Association, Inc., will

bring FTTH broadband service to all unserved

establishments in the exchanges of Lake City and

Sun City. The network will make services available

to 79 households, 8 businesses, and 1 anchor

institution. The project will create seven jobs.

South Central Wireless, Inc.

South Central Wireless - Attica, Kansas Fiber-to-thePremise

Last Mile

$560,000 Loan

$557,621 Grant

South Central Wireless, Inc., will construct an FTTP

infrastructure for Attica to offer voice and highspeed service ranging from 1.5 Mbps to 20 Mbps. The

network will serve 314 households, 41 businesses, and

10 anchor institutions. The project will create nine jobs.

Totah Communications, Inc.

Totah Broadband Expansion Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$2,426,053 Loan

$1,830,180 Grant

Totah Communications, Inc., will upgrade existing

copper-fed DSL nodes to fiber-fed DSL nodes. This

project will also install additional fiber-fed DSL

nodes throughout the service area. The total route

will cover approximately 152 miles and will serve

approximately 800 new customers. A portion of

this project will also be implemented in Oklahoma. 

The network will make services available to 422

households, 9 businesses, and 8 anchor institutions. 

The project will create an estimated 25 jobs.

Wave Wireless, LLC

Wave Wireless Southeast Kansas Broadband 

Expansion Project

Last Mile

$619,147 Loan

$1,857,441 Grant

Wave Wireless will expand its high-speed broadband

access to the rural unserved and underserved

southeast Kansas PFSA. The project, covering 849

square miles, has an overall household density of

3.6 per square mile. The project will make services

available to 2,890 households, 2,106 businesses,

and 72 anchor institutions using a combination

of WiMAX and 900 MHz systems. Wave Wireless

will deliver significant upgrades using WiMAX

technology and will build an additional 6 towers

on its existing network of 19 towers and will

lease 1 tower location. The upgraded equipment

will provide higher service tiers at 2.5 Mbps and

768 Kbps. The project will create 12 jobs.
32 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

KENTUCKY

Foothills Rural Telephone Cooperative Corporation, 

Inc.

Foothills Broadband Initiatives Project

Last Mile

$6,291,744 Loan

$14,680,738 Grant

Foothills Rural Telephone Cooperative Corporation,

Inc., will provide FTTH to portions of Lawrence and

Magoffin counties in the Foothills service area. The

PFSAs lack access to high-speed broadband data and

quality video feeds that include local content. The

PFSAs in this project will make services available to 2,247

households, 780 businesses, and 8 anchor institutions. 

The access network will use FTTH technology to

deliver broadband and will use GPON standards

with 2.48 Gigabit rates downstream and 1.2 Gigabit

rates upstream. The project will create 326 jobs.

Highland Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

Highland Telephone Cooperative FTTH Build-Out

Last Mile

$4,820,464 Loan

$14,461,393 Grant

Highland Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (HTC) will

provide state-of-the-art communication services while

enhancing broadband communication options to the

citizens of McCreary, Morgan, and Scott counties in

rural Tennessee and Kentucky. HTC will construct an

FTTH wireline fiber-optic cable network, configured

in PON architecture, able to support speeds in

excess of 20 Gbps for all subscribers in its exchange

boundaries. The network will make services available

to 6,278 households, 532 businesses, and 31 anchor

institutions, providing infrastructure for affordable

bandwidth. The project will ensure HTC’s ability to

continue to operate as a major employer, provide highspeed broadband services critical to the economic

growth of the region, and ensure the communications

services for this rural community are as reliable and

competitive as those in large cities in Tennessee

and Kentucky. The project will create 21 jobs.

Leslie County Telephone Company

Leslie County Telephone Company: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$6,169,295 Grant

Leslie County Telephone Company (Leslie County Tel)

will bring high-speed broadband service to unserved

premises in its rural franchise service territory. 

Leslie County Tel, a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, is

the State-certified ILEC in Kentucky. The project

is designed to serve nine PFSAs in its franchised

service territory, which is rural and includes eight

communities. These PFSAs have 1,591 premises (1,517

households, 38 businesses, and 36 anchor institutions)

that currently have no access to broadband service. 

Leslie County Tel has built a broadband network

that currently is capable of serving the majority of

these premises in several of the core communities,

but the surrounding area, much of which is sparsely

populated, lacks broadband access due to the high

cost of building such a network. In addition, facilitiesbased terrestrial broadband service is unavailable

to the premises in the PFSAs. This project will

bring access to high-speed broadband service (20

Mbps upstream and downstream combined). The

network is also engineered so that it can be easily

upgraded at a reasonable cost to meet future

needs. The project will create or save 162 jobs.

Mikrotec CATV, LLC

Connect Eolia, Oven Fork, and Partridge

Last Mile

$829,813 Grant

Mikrotec CATV, LLC will provide broadband Internet

service to the small rural communities of Eolia, Oven

Fork, and Partridge in Letcher County, tucked in a

valley amidst rugged mountain terrain deep in the

heart of the Appalachian coalfields. The project area

covers 18 square miles and will serve 800 households,

15 businesses, and 5 anchor institutions. The system

design uses wireline technology, both fiber-optic

cable and coaxial cable. The hybrid system includes

HFC, at least 750 MHz node + 6 actives to allow

speeds of up to 6 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps

upstream. The project will create or save 14 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 33

Mountain RTCC

Mountain RTCC ILEC Broadband

Last Mile Non-remote

$39,843,535 Loan

$38,281,044 Grant

Mountain RTCC will deploy a fiber cable-based

broadband network in Elliott, Menifee, Morgan, and

Wolfe counties. This network will provide broadband

service speeds above 20 Mbps. Affordable broadband

access in these counties will enhance economic

development and workforce training. The network

will make services available to 13,013 households,

2,335 businesses, and 65 anchor institutions. 

The project will create an estimated 49 jobs.

Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative Corp, Inc.

Broadband Infrastructure Investment in Persistent 

Poverty Counties: Jackson and Owsley Counties, KY

Last Mile

$7,654,254 Loan

$17,859,928 Grant

The Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative, Inc., will

build FTTP facilities in Cow Creek, Jackson, and

Owsley counties to provide residents, businesses,

and critical community facilities with high-speed

broadband service. The project will make services

available to 4,747 households, 111 businesses, and 33

anchor institutions and will offer broadband service

speeds ranging from 1.5 Mbps to 18 Mbps. The

project design is an FTTP overlay, based on the use of

Occam Network’s GPON equipment and uses existing

equipment cabinets and buildings to house the OLT

and OSN equipment. The project will create 46 jobs.

Salem Telephone Company

Salem Telephone Company: Broadband Project to 

Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$1,934,474 Grant

Salem Telephone Company (Salem Tel), a subsidiary

of TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed broadband

service to unserved premises in its rural franchise

service territory. Salem Tel is the State-certified ILEC

in Kentucky. The project will serve three PFSAs that

include five communities. This project will build a

broadband network that will make services available

to 551 rural unserved premises (529 households, 15

businesses, and 7 anchor institutions) that have no

access to broadband service. Salem Tel has built a

broadband network that is capable of serving the

majority of these premises in several of the core

communities, but the surrounding area, much of

which is sparsely populated, lacks broadband access

due to the high cost of building such a network. In

addition, facilities-based terrestrial broadband service

is unavailable to the premises in the PFSAs. This

project will provide access to high-speed broadband

service (20 Mbps upstream and downstream

combined). The network is also engineered so that it

can be easily upgraded at a reasonable cost to meet

future needs. The project will create or save 51 jobs.

Thacker-Grigsby Telephone Company, Inc.

Breathitt County Broadband

Last Mile

$2,222,542 Loan

$5,185,932 Grant

Thacker-Grigsby Telephone Company, Inc.,

will deploy a fiber-optic network in portions

of Breathitt County. The network will serve

1,214 households, 60 businesses, and 34 anchor

institutions. The project will create 61 jobs.
34 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

West Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative 

Corporation, Inc.

West Kentucky and West Tennessee Broadband FTTH 

Initiative

Last Mile

$42,711,001 Loan

$42,710,999 Grant

West Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative

Corporation, Inc. (WK&T) will build a fiber-optic

network to provide broadband infrastructure for

rural southwest Kentucky in the counties of Calloway,

Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, and Marshall,

and in the northwest Tennessee counties of Henry,

Obion, and Weakley. The project will make services

available to 11,980 households, 2,492 businesses,

and 68 anchor institutions. By installing fiber

throughout the service areas, broadband with speeds

up to 20 Mbps will become more affordable. At the

conclusion of the project, WK&T expects to double

its data subscribers and have almost 90 percent

of its customer base, more than 14,000 customers,

on broadband, with data speeds averaging 1.5

Mbps or higher. The project will create 110 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Windstream Kentucky East, LLC 219

Last Mile

$27,644,292 Grant

Windstream Corporation will offer broadband service

speeds at a minimum of 6 Mbps in more than 80 rural

communities by deploying DSLAMs using standard

ADSL2+. The network will make services available to

117,740 households, 10,329 businesses, and 574 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 397 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Windstream Kentucky East, LLC 220

Last Mile

$31,118,534 Grant

Windstream Corporation will offer broadband

service speeds of up to 12 Mbps in more than

80 rural communities. The network will make

services available to 101,009 households, 8,156

businesses, and 682 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save 513 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Windstream Kentucky West, LLC

Last Mile

$951,445 Grant

Windstream Corporation will expand broadband

service to unserved customers in the rural Kentucky

communities of Coxs Creek, Fort Knox, Lebanon,

Shepherdsville Northwest, and Shepherdsville

Southeast. The project will allow Windstream to

extend the reach of its broadband network to make

services available to 3,490 households, 50 businesses,

and 4 anchor institutions. It will provide broadband to

last-mile wireline telephone subscribers. Windstream

will provide broadband service to community

public service facilities in the PFSAs at discounted

rate packages for at least 3 years. Windstream

will deploy industry-standard DSLAM protocols to

provide a minimum of 6.0 Mbps downstream and 786

Kbps upstream data services. The DSLAMs will be

strategically deployed to reach the greatest number of

unserved customers over its existing wireline copper

plant. The project will create an estimated 53 jobs.

LOUISIANA

LBH, LLC

Rural Broadband Powered by Fiber

Last Mile Non-remote

$16,693,439 Loan

$16,691,939 Grant

LBH, LLC, a subsidiary of Cameron Communications,

LLC, will expand the existing FTTH system in Moss

Bluff in the communities and surrounding rural

areas of Oakdale and Vinton. The project will

provide broadband, voice, and video services to

unserved and underserved areas. The network

will make services available to 8,232 households,

444 businesses, and 22 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save an estimated 136 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 35

Nexus Systems, Inc.

West Carroll Parish Infrastructure Project

Last Mile

$724,256 Grant

Nexus Systems, Inc., as part of a private-public

partnership, will implement the West Carroll Parish

Infrastructure project to provide fiber broadband

service to unserved and underserved areas in

northeastern Louisiana. The technology will be a

combination of microwave and fiber connectivity. The

network will tie into the middle-mile LA Broadband

Alliance-Infrastructure project by the LA Board of

Regents. The network will make services available

to 4,427 households, 240 businesses, and 47 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 11 jobs.

Northeast Louisiana Telephone Company, Inc.

Northeast Louisiana Telephone Co. FTTH & 

Broadband Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$8,124,600 Loan

$4,359,000 Grant

The Northeast Louisiana Telephone Company

project will provide an active Ethernet system

with symmetrical broadband service speeds of 20

Mbps. The system will use buried FTTH to serve the

communities of Bonita and Collinston in Morehouse

Parish. The network will make services available

to 1,627 households, 74 businesses, and 15 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 22 jobs.

PRIDE Network, Inc.

North Shore Project

Last Mile

$18,461,417 Loan

$17,737,440 Grant

PRIDE Network, Inc., will deploy FTTP infrastructure,

with a wireless service-extension overlay, that

will bring advanced broadband service to rural

communities in St. Helena, Tangipahoa, and

Washington parishes. The network will offer

broadband service speeds between 20 and

100 Mbps. The network will make services

available to 10,097 households, 2,978 businesses,

and 172 anchor institutions. The project will

create or save an estimated 1,316 jobs.

MAINE

Hartland and St. Albans Telephone Company

Hartland and St. Albans Telephone Company: 

Broadband Project to Serve Rural Unserved 

Establishments

Last Mile

$2,009,522 Grant

The Hartland and St. Albans Telephone Company

(Hartland and St. Albans Tel), a subsidiary of TDS

Telecom, will provide high-speed broadband service

to unserved premises in its rural Maine service

territory. The project will serve six 100 percent rural

PFSAs that include five communities. These PFSAs

have 599 premises (568 households, 28 businesses,

and 3 anchor institutions) with no access to

broadband service. Hartland and St. Albans Tel is the

State-certified ILEC in Maine. The network will deploy

Ethernet-over-copper technology, provide VDSL2

access devices packaged in an FTTN configuration,

upgrade access in the central office to support the

extension of the broadband networks to these remote

areas, use PON FTTH where economically feasible,

and allow for future PON upgrades without needing

to rebuild the transport routes. The target speed is 20

Mbps (upstream and downstream combined) or more

DSL service. The project will create or save 53 jobs.

Somerset Telephone Company, Inc.

Somerset Telephone Company: Broadband Project 

to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$5,840,363 Grant

Somerset Telephone Company (Somerset Tel), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will provide access to

high-speed broadband service to unserved premises

in its 100 percent rural service territory in Maine. The

project will serve 20 PFSAs with 8 communities. 

These PFSAs have 1,468 premises (1,375 households,

73 businesses, and 20 anchor institutions) with no

access to broadband service. Somerset Tel is the

State-certified ILEC in Maine. The network will deploy

Ethernet-over-copper technology, provide VDSL2

access devices packaged in an FTTN configuration,

upgrade access in the central office to support the

extension of the broadband networks to these remote

areas, use PON FTTH where economically feasible,

and allow for future PON upgrades without needing

to rebuild the transport routes. The target speed is 20

Mbps (upstream and downstream combined) or more

DSL service. The project will create or save 153 jobs.
36 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

West Penobscot Telephone and Telegraph Company

West Penobscot Telephone and Telegraph Company: 

Broadband Project to Serve Rural Unserved 

Establishments

Last Mile

$1,554,981 Grant

West Penobscot Telephone and Telegraph Company

(West Penobscot Tel), a subsidiary of TDS Telecom,

will build a project to bring high-speed broadband

service to unserved premises in West Penobscot Tel’s

rural franchise service territory. West Penobscot Tel

is the State-certified ILEC in Maine. The project will

bring high-speed broadband service to four PFSAs in

its franchised service territory, which are 100 percent

rural and include three communities. These PFSAs

have 440 premises (428 households and 12 businesses)

that have no access to broadband service. West

Penobscot Tel has built a broadband network that is

capable of serving the majority of these premises in

several of the core communities, but the surrounding

area, much of which is sparsely populated, lacks

broadband access due to the high cost of building

such a network. In addition, facilities-based terrestrial

broadband service is unavailable to the premises

in the PFSAs. This project will provide access to

high-speed broadband service (20 Mbps upstream

and downstream combined). The network is also

engineered so that it can be easily upgraded to meet

future needs. The project will create or save 41 jobs.

MARYLAND

Bloosurf, LLC

Delmarva Wireless Broadband

Last Mile

$1,600,000 Loan

$1,600,000 Grant

Bloosurf, LLC, in partnership with the University of

Maryland Eastern Shore, a historically black college,

will build a wireless last-mile network for the rural

areas of Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester

counties, as well as Smith Island. This network will

connect to the Maryland Broadband Cooperative

optic fiber at four interconnection points. The

network will make services available to 50,545

households, 6,292 businesses, and 351 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 22 jobs.

West Virginia PCS Alliance, LC

Rural Mobile Broadband Initiative – Maryland

Last Mile

$1,209,352 Grant

West Virginia PCS Alliance, LC and NTELOS

Licenses Inc., both subsidiaries of NTELOS Holdings

Corporation, will expand West Virginia PCS Alliance’s

existing wireless services to provide 3G mobile

broadband service in unserved rural portions of

western Maryland and south-central Pennsylvania,

north of Hagerstown. The PFSAs comprise eight

communities, with more than 50 percent of the

premises lacking high-speed broadband service. 

The network will make services available to 28,521

households, 3,306 businesses, and 704 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save nine jobs.

MASSACHUSETTS

Mid-Hudson Cablevision, Inc.

Last-Mile High Speed Broadband in Greene and 

Columbia Counties

Last Mile

$486,349 Grant

Mid-Hudson Cablevision, Inc., will provide high-speed

broadband access to unserved and underserved

PFSAs in the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountain

region between New York City and Albany. The

network will make services available to 1,170

households, 421 businesses, and 16 anchor institutions

and will complete part of the region’s 911 public

safety system. The last-mile extensions will require

construction of 135 linear miles of FTTH on existing

utility poles and connection for a network of five fire

towers. Another 341-square-mile area will be reached

by deploying 16 transmitting sites for wireless. The

PFSAs also cover four underserved communities. The

company will deploy 16 or more transmitting sites

using Motorola Canopy equipment to provide access

speeds of 10 Mbps in line-of-sight areas and 4 Mbps in

dense foliage. The project will create or save 10 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 37

MICHIGAN

Air Advantage, LLC

Michigan Thumb Area Broadband Expansion 

Project II

Last Mile

$32,300,000 Loan

$31,950,000 Grant

Air Advantage, LLC will offer broadband service

to last-mile consumers in 13 counties that make up

an area known as the Great Lakes Bay Region and

Thumb Area. The project will use a hybrid system of

fiber and wireless technologies to offer broadband

service speeds in excess of 3 Mbps. The network

will make services available to 279,306 households,

21,302 businesses, and 4,011 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save an estimated 142 jobs.

Allband Communications Cooperative

Allband F.I.B.E.R. I: Federal Investment in Broadband 

for Economic Recovery I

Last Mile

$8,622,754 Grant

Allband Communications Cooperative serves the

Robbs Creek exchange, an irregularly shaped

177-square-mile area southeast of Hillman and

north of Curran in Michigan. The project will bring

high-speed broadband and VoIP service to its

members and customers in these unserved rural

areas. The project covers Alpena County and the

unincorporated communities of Lachine, Long Rapids,

and Spratt, along with the surrounding townships

of Green, Long Rapids, Ossineke, Wellington, and

Wilson; a service area covering Alcona and Oscoda

counties and the unincorporated community of

Curran, along with the surrounding townships of

Millen and Mitchell; and a service area covering

Montmorency County in the east-central part of

Rust Township. The network will make services

available to 1,622 households, 95 businesses, and

9 anchor institutions and will offer broadband

service speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps downstream and

1.25 Gbps upstream. Allband will deploy FTTH

technology for its broadband system. The fiber-optic

cable infrastructure is designed to accomodate a

GPON and Active Ethernet network solutions. The

project will create or save an estimated 100 jobs.

Allband Communications Cooperative

Allband F.I.B.E.R. II: Federal Investment in Broadband 

for Economic Recovery II

Last Mile

$1,107,903 Grant

Allband Communications Cooperative serves the

Robbs Creek exchange, an irregularly shaped

177-square-mile area southeast of Hillman and

north of Curran in Michigan. The project will

bring high-speed broadband and VoIP services

to its members and customers in these unserved

rural areas. The project covers a service area that

includes a rural area in Alcona County and takes

in the unincorporated communities of Gustin and

Mikado townships. The network will make services

available to 206 households, 20 businesses, and

2 anchor institutions and will offer broadband

service speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps downstream

and 1.25 Gbps upstream. Allband will deploy

FTTH technology for its broadband system. The

fiber-optic cable infrastructure is designed to

accommodate a GPON and Active Ethernet network

solutions. The project will create or save 17 jobs.

Chatham Telephone Company

Last Mile Remote

$8,605,935 Grant

Chatham Telephone Company, a subsidiary of

TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed DSL service

to remote, unserved households within its rural

service territory. The network is engineered to

be easily upgraded to meet future needs. The

network will make services available to 878

households, 38 businesses, and 2 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save 170 jobs.
38 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Climax Telephone Company

FTTx Broadband Service to Rural Climax, MI

Last Mile

$1,072,501 Loan

$2,144,998 Grant

Climax Telephone Company (CTC) ILEC will build

facilities to offer state-of-the-art triple-play services

to the communities of Climax and Scotts. CTC will

overbuild the rural and underserved ILEC service

territory with FTTx and will build a new FTTP plant

based on the GPON standard of 2.5 Mbps downstream

and 1.25 Mbps upstream. The network will make

services available to 781 households, 51 businesses,

and 9 anchor institutions. This project will connect

small underserved communities with the municipal

government, public safety, education, and medical

institutions. The project will create or save 47 jobs.

Communication Corporation of Michigan

Communication Corporation of Michigan: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$1,221,811 Grant

Communication Corporation of Michigan (CCM), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed

broadband service to unserved premises in CCM’s

rural franchise service territory. CCM is the Statecertified ILEC in Michigan. The project is designed to

serve three rural PFSAs with two communities. These

PFSAs have 288 premises (278 households and 10

businesses) that lack access to broadband service. 

This project will build a broadband network to deliver

access to high-speed broadband service (20 Mbps

upstream and downstream combined). The project

will deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology, provide

VDSL2 access devices that are packaged in an FTTN

configuration, and upgrade access in the central office

to support the extension of the broadband networks

to these remote areas. It will use PON FTTH where

economically feasible and allow for future PON

upgrades without needing to rebuild the transport

routes. The project will create or save 32 jobs.

Crystal Automation Systems, Inc.

Mid-Michigan Broadband ARRA Project

Last Mile

$7,949,227 Loan

$18,548,197 Grant

Crystal Automation Systems, Inc. (Casair) will

provide broadband access in a large area of midMichigan. Casair will build this project by using 30

of its existing towers and backhauls and will install

WiMAX wireless gear to provide access to rural

households. Casair will lease 18 additional towers,

build 14 towers where none are available, and add

fiber-optic lines between towers to handle the extra

bandwidth required. The network will make services

available to 58,848 households, 4,970 businesses,

and 706 anchor institutions in Casair’s service areas

1 and 2. The project will create or save 144 jobs.

Island Telephone Company

Island Telephone Company: Broadband Project to 

Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$2,001,528 Grant

Island Telephone Company (Island Tel), a subsidiary of

TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed broadband service

to unserved premises in Island Tel’s rural franchise

service territory. Island Tel is the State-certified

incumbent ILEC in Michigan. The project is designed

to serve one PFSA, which has two communities that

have no access to broadband service. The network

will make services available to 283 rural unserved

premises (245 households, 35 businesses, and 3

anchor institutions). Island Tel has built a broadband

network that is capable of serving the majority of

these premises in several of the core communities,

but the surrounding area, much of which is sparsely

populated, lacks broadband access due to the high

cost of building such a network. In addition, facilitiesbased terrestrial broadband service is unavailable to the

premises in the PFSAs. This project will provide access

to high-speed broadband service (20 Mbps upstream

and downstream combined). The network is also

engineered so that it can be easily upgraded to meet

future needs. The project will create or save 53 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 39

Southwest Michigan Communications

Southwest Michigan Communications – Paw Paw and 

Antwerp, MI FTTP

Last Mile Non-remote

$4,165,513 Loan

$4,165,512 Grant

Southwest Michigan Communications will construct

an FTTP network that will cover the rural areas of its

competitive LEC and provide advanced broadband

service to the residents of the rural Paw Paw area. 

The network will make services available to 1,452

households. The project will create or save 14 jobs.

MINNESOTA

Arrowhead Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Arrowhead Electric Cooperative Fiber-to-the-Home 

Project

Last Mile

$4,841,245 Loan

$11,296,239 Grant

Arrowhead Electric Cooperative, Inc., will build

a last-mile, open-access, FTTH network to serve

northeastern Cook County. Because of the

topography of the land and dense forestation, fixed

wireless is not an option. The wireline passive fiberoptic network that the company will build will offer

up to 100 Mbps symmetrical service. The network

will make services available to 4,545 households,

138 businesses, and 63 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save an estimated 87 jobs.

Arvig Telephone Company

Arvig Telephone Company: Broadband Project to 

Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$5,048,168 Grant

Arvig Telephone Company, a subsidiary of TDS

Telecom, will bring high-speed broadband service

to unserved premises in its rural franchise service

territory. The project will serve 12 rural PFSAs that

include 7 communities with 836 premises (768

households, 67 businesses, and 1 anchor institution)

with no access to broadband service. The project

will deliver broadband high-speed capabilities of

20 Mbps (upstream and downstream combined). 

The network will deploy Ethernet-over-copper

technology, provide VDSL2 access devices that

are packaged in an FTTN configuration, upgrade

access in the central office to support the extension

of the broadband networks to these remote areas,

use PON FTTH where economically feasible, and

allow for future PON upgrades without needing

to rebuild the transport routes. The project

will create or save an estimated 133 jobs.

City of Windom

Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group

Last Mile Non-remote

$6,350,000 Loan

$6,350,250 Grant

The Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group

project will deploy FTTP infrastructure to eight

rural communities throughout southwestern

Minnesota. The network will consist of a 125-mile

fiber ring that will connect the 8 communities and

an FTTP infrastructure within the communities

that will support 3,649 households. The fiber

network will also be open to other providers for

provision of wireless services, dark fiber services,

and competitive services. The network will make

services available to 292 businesses and 50 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 52 jobs.
40 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Farmers Mutual Telephone Company

Farmers Telephone-Lac qui Parle County FTTP 

Project

Last Mile

$4,826,478 Loan

$4,826,478 Grant

Farmers Mutual Telephone Company and Lac qui

Parle County will provide FTTP services to towns

and townships in Lac qui Parle County. The two

entities are working in partnership to give many

residents their first opportunity to obtain high-speed

Internet service and put in place the infrastructure

to support economic development. The service area

has two cities, Boyd and Dawson, and 15 townships

over 339 square miles of unserved and underserved

territory. The project will construct an FTTP network

that will make services available to every home

and business in the PFSA and utilize Calix GPON

technology. The network will make services available

to 1,561 households, 165 businesses, and 12 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 110 jobs.

Federated Telephone Cooperative

Rural Appleton, MN

Last Mile

$630,289 Loan

$630,289 Grant

Federated Telephone Cooperative will build an FTTP

system to deploy voice, video, and data services

to the Rural Appleton exchange. The PFSA is

primarily located in Swift County, with small portions

in Big Stone and Chippewa counties. The PFSA

includes 152 households, 7 businesses, and 1 anchor

institution. The project will create or save one job.

Federated Telephone Cooperative

Rural Morris, MN

Last Mile

$1,493,637 Loan

$1,493,637 Grant

Federated Telephone Cooperative (FTC) will provide

services to the Rural Morris exchange, adjacent to

its existing ILEC and CLEC service areas. The PFSA

is primarily located in Stevens County, with a small

portion in Grant County. The service area has 408

households, 20 businesses, and 2 anchor institutions. 

FTC will deploy voice service, data service over FTTP,

and RF video service over its existing FTTP system. 

FTC will use Calix DSLAMs, which are standards

based, to deploy GPON FTTP service capable of

1 Gig. The project will create or save two jobs.

Halstad Telephone Company

HTC Minnesota Exchanges FTTP

Last Mile Non-remote

$3,277,500 Loan

$3,277,500 Grant

Halstad Telephone Company will deploy FTTP

broadband in five towns and surrounding rural

and farm areas in Norman and Polk counties. The

project will use 320 miles of fiber-optic cable

and provide those locations with broadband

capability of up to 100 Mbps. Less than 5 percent

of this network will also serve an area in North

Dakota. The network will make services available

to 1,015 households, 41 businesses, and 15 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 42 jobs.

Lake County

Lake County Fiber Network

Last Mile

$56,413,705 Loan

$9,955,359 Grant

Lake County, in partnership with National Public

Broadband, Inc., will implement the Lake County

Fiber Network project to offer FTTP advanced voice,

video, and data services to every home and business

in Lake and eastern St. Louis counties. The network

will make services available to 14,941 households,

approximately 1,060 businesses, and 98 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 510 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 41

Minnesota Valley Television Improvement 

Corporation

Minnesota Wireless Expansion

Last Mile Non-remote

$562,776 Loan

$562,776 Grant

Minnesota Valley Television Improvement Corporation

will continue building out its two-way broadband

Internet network to unserved and underserved

areas of west-central and south-central Minnesota. 

The project will add 34 additional WiMAX access

points in 34 unserved and underserved communities

adjacent to its current service area. The network

will make services available to 23,121 households,

479 businesses, and 200 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save three jobs.

Northeast Service Cooperative

Northeast Minnesota Middle Mile Project

Middle Mile

$21,749,110 Loan

$21,749,110 Grant

The Northeast Service Cooperative will implement a

middle-mile project to make dark fiber, wavelength

services available to private-sector providers in

rural areas of northeast Minnesota. The network

will make services available to 105,904 households,

7,618 businesses, and 100 anchor institutions.

Red River Rural Telephone Association, Inc.

RRT FTTP Broadband Upgrade Rural MN, ND, and SD 

Exchanges

Last Mile

$181,769 Loan

$181,769 Grant

Red River Rural Telephone Association, Inc., will

offer FTTP broadband service speeds of up to 100

Mbps. The project will install 690 miles of fiberoptic cable to serve rural exchanges in Ransom,

Richland, and Sargent counties in North Dakota, as

well as Wilkin County in Minnesota, and Marshall

and Roberts counties in South Dakota. The network

will make services available to 42 households and 9

businesses. The project will create or save four jobs.

Sjoberg’s, Inc.

Northwest Minnesota Fiber Project

Last Mile

$216,516 Loan

$649,544 Grant

Sjoberg’s, Inc., will offer FTTH broadband service in

Roseau, Thief River Falls, and the hamlet of Fox. This

project will benefit many small farms located in the

“grain belt.” Additional video, Internet, and telephone

services will be delivered via RFoG technology,

while current broadband service will be upgraded to

deliver download speeds of 40 Mbps using DOCSIS

3.0. The network will make services available

to 227 households, 15 businesses, and 3 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 11 jobs.
42 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Wikstrom Telephone Company, Inc.

Wikstrom NW MN Broadband

Last Mile

$2,219,581 Loan

$5,179,019 Grant

Wikstrom Telephone Company, Inc., will implement

two distinct types of projects in rural, unserved, and

underserved areas in northwest Minnesota. The first

project will upgrade the backbone and distribution

fiber-optic data networks for broadband in 16 of the

rural telephone exchanges that Wikstrom serves. The

network will make services available to an unserved

area of 182 square miles with 150 households and 573

businesses. The FTTN ADSL2+ network, provisioned

for 2,755 customers, will provide speeds of up to

48 Mbps. Key components of the upgrade include

installation of 74 miles of fiber-optic cables with

GigE service to remote DSLAM cabinets; installation

of an upgraded 6 GHz, 150 megabits radio to serve

Angle Inlet; and upgrade of microwave service to the

northwest Angle/Angle Inlet community and the fiberoptic network to serve the islands in the northernmost

part of the contiguous United States, of which most

of the land mass is Red Lake Nation Reservation. Also

included is an extension of fiber-optic cable to serve

the Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge, in cooperation

with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

funding for upgrades to its facilities. The second

project is to install a GPON 2.4 Gbps FTTH system,

with the installation of 414 miles of fiber-optic cable

with GigE to 1,163 homes and businesses, in the

exchanges of Greenbush and Karlstad, and the small

cities of Kennedy, Lake Bronson, Lancaster, and

Stephen. The network will make services available

to 5,115 households, 1,499 businesses, and 83 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 26 jobs.

Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association

WCTA 2010 Broadband Initiative

Last Mile

$1,570,592 Loan

$1,570,592 Grant

Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association

(WCTA) will provide last-mile, high-speed wireline

broadband FTTP to rural areas in north-central Iowa

and south-central Minnesota. The infrastructure

will support existing rural wireless tower facilities

for future growth and bandwidth expansion to 3G

and 4G networks and beyond. The project will build

on a previously deployed FTTN system. The PFSA

serves portions of 21 communities in 5 counties in

Iowa and 2 counties in Minnesota. The network

will make services available to 541 premises, which

include households plus 138 home businesses, and

will offer broadband service at combined speeds

ranging from 5 Mbps to 25 Mbps. WCTA will

also offer digital video and unlimited local voice

service. The project will create or save eight jobs.

Woodstock Telephone Company, Inc.

WTC 2010 Broadband Initiative

Last Mile

$4,555,328 Loan

$10,629,096 Grant

Woodstock Telephone Company, Inc. (WTC) will

provide high-speed broadband service to rural areas

in southwest Minnesota. WTC has the opportunity

to incorporate and share some existing facilities to

help provide feasible service in adjoining underserved

areas. WTC will also serve farming areas near small

towns. The PFSA covers parts of Lyon, Pipestone, and

Rock counties. The PFSA has 15 communities with

3,677 establishments consisting of 3,447 households,

183 businesses, and 47 anchor institutions. WTC will

offer a reduced service rate to anchor institutions

and small disadvantaged businesses. The project

will provide service speeds of 10 Mbps upstream

and downstream as basic service and higher speed

service at 30 Mbps and 80 Mbps. WTC will deploy

a GPON-based FTTP system using a combination

of nodes to cost-effectively build the system. An

initial deployment of 16-way optical splitters will

support an average bandwidth per subscriber

of 150 Mbps. Each establishment will be served

by a dedicated fiber from the central office or

the remote huts housing local active electronic

nodes. The project will create or save 41 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 43

MISSISSIPPI

Calhoun City Telephone Company, Inc.

Calhoun City Telephone Company, Inc.: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$2,962,169 Grant

Calhoun City Telephone Company, Inc. (Calhoun City

Tel), a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will provide highspeed broadband service to unserved premises in

Calhoun City Tel’s rural Mississippi service territory. 

The project will serve five rural PFSAs with six

communities. These PFSAs have 586 premises (553

households, 25 businesses, and 8 anchor institutions)

with no access to broadband service. Calhoun

City Tel is the State-certified ILEC in Mississippi. 

As engineered, the network will deploy Ethernetover-copper technology to its fullest potential,

provide VDSL2 access devices packaged in an FTTN

configuration, upgrade access in the central office

to support extension of the broadband networks

to these remote areas, use PON FTTH where

economically feasible, and allow for future PON

upgrades without needing to rebuild the transport

routes. The target speed on the network is 20 Mbps

(upstream and downstream combined) or more DSL

service. The project will create or save 78 jobs.

DigitalBridge Communications Corporation

Round 2: MS-Panola Last Mile

Last Mile

$657,833 Loan

$1,973,499 Grant

DigitalBridge Communications Corporation will offer

4G broadband service to Panola County. This project

will deploy fixed and mobile WiMAX technologies

to offer broadband service speeds of up to 5

Mbps. The network will make services available to

7,311 households, 1,379 businesses, and 87 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save six jobs.

Smithville Telephone Company, Inc.

Smithville Telephone Broadband Program

Last Mile

$7,110,886 Grant

Smithville Telephone Company, Inc., the certified

ILEC serving rural portions of Itawamba and Monroe

counties in northeastern Mississippi, will bring highspeed fiber-optic broadband service to the area. 

The company’s licensed telephone service area

includes the town of Smithville, with a population

of about 900, and almost 1,300 premises. The

PFSA has 298 unserved households in the more

remote parts of the rural area. As engineered,

the project will build a combination of FTTH and

advanced xDSL service. The project will provide

GPON technology FTTP broadband service to all

298 unserved rural households and upgrade the

existing network in the remaining part of the PFSA

to the same capabilities available to all 738 premises

in the PFSA. The project will replace the existing

voice switch with a softswitch and build a network

capable of 100 Mbps broadband speeds that later can

be reconfigured to active Ethernet for much higher

speeds. The project will create or save 30 jobs.
44 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Southeast Mississippi Telephone Company, Inc.

Southeast Mississippi Telephone Company, Inc.: 

Broadband Project to Serve Rural Unserved 

Establishments

Last Mile

$1,875,204 Grant

Southeast Mississippi Telephone Company, Inc.

(Southeast MS Tel), a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will

bring high-speed broadband service to unserved

premises in its rural franchise service territory. 

Southeast MS Tel is the State-certified ILEC in

Mississippi. The project is designed to serve 10 PFSAs

in its franchised service territory, which is 100 percent

rural and includes 4 communities. These PFSAs have

612 premises (595 households, 12 businesses, and 5

anchor institutions) that have no access to broadband

service. Southeast MS Tel has built a broadband

network that is capable of serving the majority of

these premises in several of the core communities,

but the surrounding area, much of which is sparsely

populated, lacks broadband access due to the high

cost of building such a network. In addition, facilitiesbased terrestrial broadband service is unavailable

to the premises in the PFSAs. This project will

provide access to high-speed broadband service

(20 Mbps upstream and downstream combined). 

The network is also engineered so that it can be

easily upgraded at a reasonable cost to meet future

needs. The project will create or save 49 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Windstream Mississippi, LLC

Last Mile

$1,005,566 Grant

Windstream Corporation will provide last-mile

broadband service to unserved premises in the

Prentiss and Rankin rural communities. Windstream

will deploy industry-standard DSLAMs using

ADSL2+ protocols to provide a minimum of 6 Mbps

downstream and 786 Kbps upstream data services. 

DSLAMs will be strategically deployed to reach

the greatest number of unserved customers over

the existing wireline copper plant. The network

will make services available to 1,153 households,

24 businesses, and 5 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save an estimated 28 jobs.

MISSOURI

Big River Broadband, LLC

Big River Broadband Project

Last Mile

$12,191,271 Loan

$12,190,784 Grant

Big River Broadband, LLC will provide high-speed

Internet access to an unserved area in southeast

Missouri. The network, which covers 3,409 square

miles in 7 counties, will make services available to

44,967 households, 7,511 businesses, and 311 anchor

institutions. The project will provide high-speed

Internet access (both fixed and mobile) at download

speeds of up to 14.4 Mbps and upload speeds of

5.8 Mbps and will deploy a wireless broadband

network using Advanced Wireless Services licensed

spectrum and high-speed packet access technology. 

The project will create or save 1,370 jobs.

Cass County

Cass County, MO, Broadband Initiatives Fiber-to-theHome Project

Last Mile

$7,802,391 Loan

$18,205,578 Grant

Cass County will construct a last-mile FTTH

network that will extend approximately 1,286

miles to enable broadband service speeds of up

to 100 Mbps. The network will make services

available to 10,360 households, 710 businesses,

and 118 anchor institutions. The project will

create or save an estimated 138 jobs.

Finally Broadband, LLC

Southwest Missouri Rural Broadband Initiative

Last Mile

$499,000 Loan

$499,000 Grant

Finally Broadband, LLC will provide terrestrial fixed

wireless technology to four rural counties in southwest

Missouri, two of which are designated as persistent

poverty counties. The network will make services

available to 45,782 households, 7,484 businesses,

and 404 anchor institutions in a 4,563-squaremile area. The project will deploy a Motorola

Canopy platform to provide Internet bandwidth

over three interconnection points for redundancy. 

The project will create or save seven jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 45

Grand River Mutual Telephone Corporation

Grand River Mutual Fiber-to-the-Home Broadband 

Deployment Project – Service Area 1

Last Mile

$3,418,682 Loan

$7,976,924 Grant

The Grand River Mutual Telephone Corporation

Service Area 1 project will provide broadband

service to the town of Lathrop and the surrounding

rural areas via an FTTH network. The network will

make services available to 1,221 households, 47

businesses, and 12 anchor institutions in the Lathrop

area. The project will create or save 21 jobs.

Grand River Mutual Telephone Corporation

Grand River Mutual Fiber-to-the-Home Broadband 

Deployment Project – Service Area 2

Last Mile

$12,363,759 Grant

The Grand River Mutual Telephone Corporation

Service Area 2 project will provide broadband

service to customers in the towns of Browning,

Linneus, Meadville, and Purdin and the surrounding

rural areas. The network will make services

available to 1,185 households, 773 businesses, and

22 anchor institutions. The project will provide

high-speed Internet access over an FTTH system

to customers in the PFSAs that include Linn

and Sullivan counties. The expanded network

will upgrade 459 residential customers and 80

business customers to higher speed service. The

project will create or save an estimated 28 jobs.

Grand River Mutual Telephone Corporation

Grand River Mutual Fiber-to-the-Home Broadband 

Deployment Project – Service Area 3

Last Mile

$8,970,781 Grant

The Grand River Mutual Telephone Corporation

Service Area 3 project will provide high-speed

Internet access over an FTTH system to customers

in the PFSAs that include the towns of Denver,

Gentry, and New Hampton, and their surrounding

rural areas. The network will make services

available to 641 households, 371 businesses, and

8 anchor institutions. Active Ethernet or GPON

are planned as the access delivery technology

and are deployed in other locations in Grand River

Mutual’s ILEC service area. The company will use

connections to the Missouri Network Alliance to

provide high-bandwidth Internet connectivity. The

project will create or save an estimated 20 jobs.

Grand River Mutual Telephone Corporation

Grand River Mutual Fiber-to-the-Home Broadband 

Deployment Project – Service Area 5

Last Mile

$973,001 Loan

$2,270,336 Grant

The Grand River Mutual Telephone Corporation

Service Area 5 project will provide broadband

service to the towns of Allerton, Corydon, Lineville,

and Millerton, Iowa, and Powersville, Missouri, and

their surrounding rural areas. The network will make

services available to 320 households, 54 businesses,

and 6 anchor institutions along the Iowa-Missouri

border. The project will create or save six jobs.

Northeast Missouri Rural Telephone Company

Green City, MO, Fiber-to-the-Premises

Last Mile

$3,595,810 Loan

$3,595,810 Grant

Northeast Missouri Rural Telephone Company will

construct an FTTP network. This FTTP overbuild

will provide greater than 20 Mbps broadband

access to households, businesses, and anchor

institutions in the Green City telephone exchange. 

The network will make services available to

972 households, 49 businesses, and 20 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 78 jobs.
46 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Northeast Missouri Rural Telephone Company

Unionville, MO, FTTP Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$5,140,458 Loan

$5,140,458 Grant

Northeast Missouri Rural Telephone Company will

deploy FTTP infrastructure to provide needed

broadband service to households, businesses,

and anchor institutions that are underserved

in the Unionville Exchange. The network will

make services available to 1,437 households,

157 businesses, and 8 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save 37 jobs.

Orchard Farm Telephone Company

Orchard Farm Telephone Company: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$604,794 Grant

Orchard Farm Telephone Company (Orchard Farm

Tel), a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring highspeed broadband service to unserved premises in its

rural franchise service territory. Orchard Farm Tel is

the State-certified ILEC in Missouri. The project will

serve one PFSA in its franchised service territory,

which is rural and includes three communities. This

PFSA has 142 premises (92 households, 47 businesses,

and 3 anchor institutions) that have no access to

broadband service. Orchard Farm Tel has already

built a broadband network that is capable of serving

the majority of the premises in several of the core

communities, but the surrounding area, much of

which is sparsely populated, lacks broadband access. 

In addition, facilities-based terrestrial broadband

service is unavailable to the premises in the PFSAs. 

The project will deliver high-speed broadband

capabilities of 20 Mbps (upstream and downstream

combined). The project will create or save 16 jobs.

Ralls County Electric Cooperative

Ralls County Electric Fiber-to-the-Home Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$9,548,909 Loan

$9,548,908 Grant

Ralls County Electric Cooperative will provide a fiberoptic network to residential and commercial members

and the underserved anchor institutions in the service

area. This is a State of Missouri demonstration

project. The network will make services available

to 4,594 households, 311 businesses, and 58 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 35 jobs.

Socket Telecom, LLC

Rural Mid-Missouri Fiber-to-the-Premise Project

Last Mile

$7,120,345 Loan

$16,614,137 Grant

Socket Telecom, LLC will provide high-speed

broadband access to rural mid-Missouri over a

fiber-optic network. The PFSA consists of 117

square miles in parts of Fulton City and Callaway

County. The network will make services available

to 2,728 households, 269 businesses, and 36 anchor

institutions. The project is designed as an FTTH

broadband infrastructure to provide subscribers

with access to telephone, video, and broadband

Internet. Broadband service speeds will include 6.0

Mbps and 20 Mbps options. The broadband-overfiber network will deploy a GPON-based system

that will use passive splitters to deliver concurrent

signals to multiple users within 20 kilometers of cable

footage. The project will create or save 525 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 47

United Electric Cooperative, Inc.

United Electric Fiber Initiative

Last Mile

$6,363,933 Loan

$14,849,173 Grant

United Electric Cooperative will build an advanced

last-mile FTTH network capable of delivering

high-speed broadband at 100 Mbps to 21 rural

communities in northwest Missouri. The cooperative

will also add fiber strands to create a dedicated

1G education network to provide rural schools and

libraries with increased broadband access. This

education intranet, the Cooperative Network for

Rural Education Advancement, will open the door

to advanced education options through the use of

video and shared resources. The network will be an

open network model with competing Internet, video,

and voice providers offering advanced broadband

applications to 4,224 households, 58 businesses, and

150 anchor institutions. The network spans 1,370

miles. Through its partner, Pulse Broadband, United

Electric Cooperative will build a passive optical

FTTH network on the existing electric distribution

right-of-way. Service providers will enter the

United Electric Cooperative fiber network through

a central SIP controlled by the cooperative. The

project will create or save an estimated 113 jobs.

Utopian Wireless Corporation

Utopian Benton WiMAX Project

Last Mile

$62,433 Loan

$187,298 Grant

The Utopian Benton WiMAX project will make

available advanced 4G wireless broadband service to

underserved communities around the Benton area. 

The PFSA covers approximately 1,105 households,

56 businesses, and 30 anchor institutions. Using

licensed 2.5 GHz spectrum, Utopian Wireless

Corporation will deploy a broadband wireless

system that features Motorola Mobile WiMAX

technology. The average minimum downlink speeds

for wireless Utopian subscribers will be at least

1.8 Mbps. The project will create or save 11 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Windstream Missouri, Inc.

Last Mile

$10,328,319 Grant

Windstream Corporation will provide last-mile

broadband service to numerous unserved rural

areas of Missouri. Windstream will deploy industrystandard DSLAMs using ADSL2+ protocols to

provide a minimum of 6 Mbps downstream and

786 Kbps upstream data services. DSLAMs will

be strategically deployed to reach the greatest

number of unserved customers over the existing

wireline copper plant. The network will make

services available to 4,350 households, 201

businesses, and 39 anchor institutions. The project

will create or save an estimated 229 jobs.

MONTANA

Montana Opticom, LLC

Gallatin Gateway Broadband Project

Last Mile

$32,127,322 Loan

$32,000,000 Grant

Montana Opticom, LLC will build a gateway

broadband project to expand high-speed

broadband to the rural communities of Belgrade,

Bozeman, Gallatin Gateway, Manhattan, and a

portion of West Yellowstone. The project is an

FTTP infrastructure overbuild that will deploy fiber

to a rural area with a population of 18,844, where

it has been cost prohibitive to deploy FTTP. The

PFSA has 7,746 households, 4,118 businesses, and

58 anchor institutions. The project will offer voice,

video, and data services at speeds of up to 100

Mbps. The project will create or save 697 jobs. 
48 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Nemont Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

Ft. Peck Reservation FTTP

Last Mile

$2,599,390 Loan

$23,394,510 Grant

Nemont Telephone Cooperative, Inc., will deploy

an FTTP network to the exchanges of Brockton,

Frazer, Froid Rural, North Poplar, North Wolf Point,

and Poplar in northeast Montana. The PFSA,

entirely in the Ft. Peck Indian Reservation, includes

the communities of Brockton, Frazer, Fort Kipp,

Homestead, Lustre, Oswego, Poplar, and Volt. This

service area is a remote, rural, underserved, and

severely economically challenged area. The network

will make services available to 3,279 premises. It

will also connect 42 anchor institutions, of which 19

are tribal entities, 6 medical and healthcare centers,

7 educational institutions, 4 emergency services, 2

libraries, 11 government facilities, and 12 community

support organizations. The project will provide up

to 100 Mbps service to all locations and the future

capability of up to 1 Gbps service at cost-effective

pricing. The project will provide a 100 percent fiberoptic network using Calix GPON equipment. The

project will create or save an estimated 283 jobs.

Project Telephone Company

Crow Agency/Lodge Grass FTTP

Last Mile

$3,887,370 Loan

$11,662,109 Grant

Project Telephone Company will provide FTTP to all

locations within the Crow Reservation exchanges of

Crow Agency and Lodge Grass, where more than 50

percent of the locations do not have access to 5 Mbps

(upstream and downstream combined). This project

will also bring FTTP to all anchor institutions, including

the headquarters of the Crow Tribe in Crow Agency. 

The service will be accessible by each location and

delivered by GPON and/or active Ethernet topologies. 

The network will make services available to 1,495

households, 191 businesses, and 26 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save an estimated 169 jobs.

Project Telephone Company

Scott St. Pryor Middle Mile

Middle Mile

$962,672 Loan

$2,888,015 Grant

Project Telephone Company will create a fiber-optic

transport network that connects the Crow Indian

Reservation communities of Fort Smith, Pryor, and

Saint Xavier to existing fiber-transport networks

in Lockwood, near Billings. This project will also

bring FTTP-type services to 26 anchor institutions,

including tribal, State, and Federal entities. The

infrastructure will allow Project Telephone to link

to other backbone providers. This project will

promote rural economic development and provide

interconnection points to underserved areas. It

will also stimulate broadband growth by providing

interoffice transport, backhaul, Internet connectivity,

and/or special access using fiber. This redundant

network is vital in the event of a network outage,

such as a fiber cut, in order to keep critical services

like public safety operational. The network will

make services available to 1,765 households and 493

businesses. The project will create or save 42 jobs.

Reservation Telephone Cooperative

Last Mile Broadband to Rural ND and MT

Last Mile Non-remote

$2,190,000 Loan

$2,190,000 Grant

Reservation Telephone Cooperative will deploy

FTTH technology to bring affordable and reliable

broadband access and video service to underserved

rural areas in western North Dakota and eastern

Montana communities in and around the Fort Berthold

Indian Reservation. These areas include the remote

Squaw Gap service area and the partially remote

Mandaree, New Town, Parshall, and Roseglen service

areas. The network will make services available

to 281 households, 8 businesses, and 4 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save eight jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 49

NEBRASKA

Peetz Cooperative Telephone Co.

Peetz Last Mile

Last Mile Remote

$756,925 Grant

Peetz Cooperative Telephone Co., will deploy

broadband infrastructure in and around the Peetz

community using a combination of technologies. 

Anchor institutions within the community will

have the connectivity necessary for distance

learning and public safety applications. The

network will make services available to 254

households, 15 businesses, and 6 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save five jobs.

Southeast Nebraska Communications, Inc.

Southeast Nebraska Communications Rural FTTH

Last Mile

$3,396,895 Loan

$7,888,472 Grant

Southeast Nebraska Communications, Inc. (SNC)

will upgrade its network to alleviate a last-mile

bottleneck in its service area in Nebraska and

Kansas. The current technology limits average

customer throughput and is distance sensitive, which

results in the most rural subscribers having less

bandwidth access than those closer to town. The

PFSA for this project is SNC’s entire certificated

telephone company service territory. The network

will make services available to 1,215 households,

51 businesses, and 22 anchor institutions. The

project will upgrade these areas from copper-based

facilities and technologies to FTTH and will offer

broadband service speeds of a minimum of 3 Mbps

downstream and a minimum of 1 Mbps upstream. 

The FTTH equipment will be standards-based active

Ethernet. The project will create or save nine jobs.

NEVADA

Arizona Nevada Tower Corporation

Central Nevada Community Anchor Wireless 

Backhaul Solution

Middle Mile

$2,276,650 Loan

$5,312,182 Grant

Arizona Nevada Tower Corporation will provide

middle-mile broadband to enhance existing but

limited fiber-optic cable and provide transport where

fiber-optic cable is unavailable by using LTE/WiMAXready technology. This project will provide microwave

radio backbone and a middle-mile system to provide

significant bandwidth in 15 areas of Nevada and

California. The network will make services available to

12,933 households, 3,422 businesses, and 186 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save eight jobs.

KeyOn Communications, Inc.

KeyOn WiMAX Nevada

Last Mile

$3,054,989 Loan

$7,106,233 Grant

KeyOn Communications, Inc., will offer 4G lastmile wireless broadband and VoIP in 39 of the

most rural communities in Nevada. Using KeyOn’s

nationwide 3.65 GHz license and the standardsbased WiMAX protocol, the network will offer

broadband service speeds of up to 8 Mbps. The

network will make services available to 37,569

households, 5,522 businesses, and 849 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 30 jobs.

Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, Inc.

Hungry Valley Broadband Initiative

Last Mile

$400,000 Grant

Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, Inc., will offer wireless

broadband service speeds at a minimum of 5 Mbps

to communities in a rural reservation in Hungry

Valley. The network will make services available

to 162 households, 1 business, and 4 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save one job.
50 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Rural Telephone Company

North Fork, Tuscarora, and Jarbidge Service Area 

Broadband Service Implementation

Last Mile

$728,700 Loan

$1,700,300 Grant

Rural Telephone Company will extend ADSL2+

high-speed broadband service to existing and

new customers in the Jarbidge, North Fork,

and Tuscarora service areas. The network will

make services available to 272 households,

104 businesses, and 10 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save two jobs.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Bretton Woods Telephone Company, Inc.

Last Mile Remote Area – Bretton Woods, NH

Last Mile Remote

$985,000 Grant

The Bretton Woods area lacks broadband service

sufficient for the community’s needs and commercial

applications. Bretton Woods FTTP will provide

nearly 40 times faster service than is currently

available. Tourism is the primary industry supporting

jobs and economic development in the region

and broadband access will help keep this industry

strong. The network will make services available

to 386 households, 19 businesses, and 6 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 11 jobs.

Kearsarge Telephone Company

Kearsarge Telephone Company: Broadband Project 

to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$372,532 Grant

Kearsarge Telephone Company (Kearsarge Tel), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will provide high-speed

broadband service to unserved premises in its rural

New Hampshire service territory. The project will

serve three rural PFSAs. These PFSAs have 116

premises (107 households and 9 businesses) with

no access to broadband service. Kearsarge Tel is

the State-certified ILEC in New Hampshire. The

network will deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology,

provide VDSL2 access devices packaged in an

FTTN configuration, upgrade access in the central

office to support the extension of the broadband

networks to these remote areas, use PON FTTH

where economically feasible, and allow for future

PON upgrades without needing to rebuild the

transport routes. The target speed is 20 Mbps

(upstream and downstream combined) or more DSL

service. The project will create or save 10 jobs.

Merrimack County Telephone Company

Merrimack County Telephone Company: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$2,021,197 Grant

Merrimack County Telephone Company (Merrimack

County Tel), a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will

provide high-speed broadband service to unserved

premises in its rural New Hampshire service territory. 

The project will serve eight rural PFSAs with five

communities. These PFSAs have 832 premises (770

households and 62 businesses) with no access to

broadband service. Merrimack County Tel is the

State-certified ILEC in New Hampshire. The network

will deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology,

provide VDSL2 access devices packaged in an

FTTN configuration, upgrade access in the central

office to support the extension of the broadband

networks to these remote areas, use PON FTTH

where economically feasible, and allow for future

PON upgrades without needing to rebuild the

transport routes. The target speed is 20 Mbps

(upstream and downstream combined) or more DSL

service. The project will create or save 53 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 51

NEW MEXICO

Baca Valley Telephone Company, Inc.

Baca Valley Telephone Last Mile DSL Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$1,651,000 Loan

$1,586,000 Grant

Baca Valley Telephone Company, Inc., will deploy

a fiber-optic last-mile access system to provide

ADSL2+ broadband service to households and

businesses in two separate PFSAs located in northeast

New Mexico. This project will serve subscribers

located in Union and Colfax counties, and consists

of two service areas: Des Moines and Maxwell. 

The network will make services available to 373

households, 71 businesses and rural establishments

(including farms and ranches), and 20 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 10 jobs.

Dell Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

Dell Telephone Last-Mile DSL project

Last Mile

$435,500 Grant

Dell Telephone Cooperative, Inc., will provide highspeed broadband access to subscribers in Bug

Scuffle. This rural PFSA is a residential community

in southeast New Mexico. The network expansion

will use copper-based ADSL2+ technology to

provide broadband data and voice service to

the 44 households in the PFSA. The project will

replace existing legacy Tellabs DLC equipment

with next-generation, fiber-fed Occam BLC

equipment that is capable of providing service

speeds of 4.5 Mbps downstream and 768 Kbps

upstream. The project will create or save 18 jobs.

Kit Carson Electric Education Foundation, Inc.

Kit Carson Electric Cooperative Fiber-to-the-Home 

Project

Last Mile

$19,130,601 Loan

$44,638,070 Grant

Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC) will build

an open-access FTTH fiber-optic network in the

unserved and underserved counties of Colfax, Rio

Arriba, and Taos in northern New Mexico. Two of

the counties are among New Mexico’s 12 designated

persistent poverty counties. The PFSAs include

29 communities comprising an estimated 20,458

households, 3,647 businesses, 183 anchor institutions,

and 2 Native American pueblos in a 2,951-square-mile

rural underserved area. The network spans 2,400

miles. KCEC will build and operate an FTTH network

capable of at least 100 Mbps for residential service

and 1 Gbps broadband service for anchor institutions. 

KCEC will use this project to build an FTTH network

along the existing electric distribution right-of-way

to enable smart grid/green grid technologies. The

smart-grid functionality can handle intermittent power

from renewable energy sources and help customers

track and manage their real-time energy consumption.

The fiber network will provide the backbone for

deploying smart meters at residential and commercial

sites so consumers can use broadband to set up

home area networks capable of supporting smart

appliances and time-shifting peak-demand strategies. 

The investment in the fiber network will be leveraged

to tie together regional power substations and the

operations center. KCEC is also working with the

Taos Pueblo tribal government to build fiber into

that community to provide affordable broadband

access for tribal anchors and members. The

project will create or save an estimated 333 jobs.
52 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

La Jicarita Rural Telephone Cooperative

Broadband Services to Mora County, NM

Last Mile

$3,557,050 Loan

$8,299,782 Grant

La Jicarita Rural Telephone Cooperative will offer

full fiber capabilities to rural establishments with

broadband service speeds of up to 18 Mbps. This lastmile project, along with a middle-mile component,

will allow the company to provide affordable higher

speed last-mile service to a majority of its subscriber

base who otherwise would go underserved. The

network will make services available to 1,384

households, 41 businesses, and 8 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save 48 jobs.

Peñasco Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

PVT ILEC

Last Mile Non-remote

$4,818,607 Loan

$4,770,660 Grant

Peñasco Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc., will

deliver high-speed broadband service to unserved

areas in its ILEC territory. The project will deploy

fiber and electronics to allow for broadband

service offerings to customers who are unable

to access DSL, include wireless capabilities for

difficult-to-reach areas, and provide for additional

fiber capacity. The network will make services

available to 1,871 households and 6 businesses.

Pueblo de San Ildefonso

TewaCom Broadband Initiative (TBI), Phase 1 – Upper 

Rio Grande Valley

Last Mile Non-remote

$632,225 Loan

$632,225 Grant

San Ildefonso Pueblo is a partner in the Northern

New Mexico Regional Economic Development

Initiative, which will deploy a regional open

network. The network will support the multiple

purposes of economic development, education,

healthcare, and sustainable energy development,

and will make services available to 2,405

households, 35 businesses, and 23 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 10 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Valor Telecommunications of Texas 310

Last Mile

$2,273,847 Grant

Windstream Corporation will extend its broadband

network to provide service to unserved homes and

businesses in the areas of Chimayo, Dixon, Peñasco,

Rio Chama, Ruidoso, South Rio Arriba, Tierra Amarilla,

Truth or Consequences, and Vallecitas. The project

will use industry-standard ADSL2+ protocols that will

offer broadband service speeds of up to 12 Mbps. 

The network will make services available to 3,999

households, 56 businesses, and 2 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save an estimated 29 jobs.

NEW YORK

Castle Cable TV, Inc.

Castle Cable TV Broadband Project

Last Mile

$3,584,280 Loan

$3,584,279 Grant

Castle Cable TV, Inc., will extend broadband and

other advanced telecommunications services

through several communities in Jefferson and St. 

Lawrence counties, making services available to 2,321

households, 217 businesses, and 12 anchor institutions. 

The project will deploy FTTH wireline technology,

update access in the head-end necessary to support

the extension of the broadband network to these

areas, and utilize a configuration that will allow for

future PON upgrades without having to rebuild the

transport routes. In addition, through its subsidiary

Citizens Cablevision, Castle Cable TV will provide the

same service to Morristown and the community of

Brier Hill in rural Morristown Township along the St. 

Lawrence River. The project will create or save 11 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 53

Deposit Telephone Company, Inc.

Deposit Telephone Company, Inc.: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$3,018,085 Grant

Deposit Telephone Company, Inc. (Deposit Tel), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed

broadband service to unserved premises in Deposit

Tel’s rural franchise service territory. Deposit

Tel is the State-certified ILEC in New York. The

project will serve six PFSAs in its franchised service

territory, which is 100 percent rural and includes

six communities. These PFSAs have 1,140 premises

(1,069 households and 71 businesses) that have no

access to broadband service. Deposit Tel has built

a broadband network that is capable of serving the

majority of these premises in several of the core

communities, but the surrounding area, much of

which is sparsely populated, lacks broadband access

due to the high cost of building such a network. In

addition, facilities-based terrestrial broadband service

is unavailable to the premises in the PFSAs. This

project will bring access to high-speed broadband

service (20 Mbps upstream and downstream

combined). The network is also engineered so that it

can be easily upgraded at a reasonable cost to meet

future needs. The project will create or save 80 jobs.

Mid-Hudson Cablevision, Inc.

Last-Mile High Speed Broadband in Greene and 

Columbia Counties

Last Mile

$2,987,570 Grant

Mid-Hudson Cablevision, Inc., will provide highspeed broadband access to seven unserved and

underserved PFSAs in the Hudson Valley and

Catskill Mountain region between New York City and

Albany. The network will make services available to

7,186 households, 2,586 businesses, and 97 anchor

institutions and will complete part of the region’s 911

public safety infrastructure. The last-mile extensions

will require construction of 135 linear miles of FTTH

on existing utility poles and connection for a network

of five fire towers. Another 341-square-mile area

will be reached by deploying 16 transmitting sites

for wireless. The PFSAs also cover four underserved

communities, including Greene County. Mid-Hudson

will deploy more than 16 transmitting sites using

Motorola Canopy equipment to provide access speeds

of 10 Mbps in line-of-sight areas and 4 Mbps in dense

foliage. The project will create or save 59 jobs.

Port Byron Telephone Company, Inc.

Port Byron Telephone Company: Broadband Project 

to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$639,218 Grant

Port Byron Telephone Company, Inc. (Port Byron

Tel), a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring highspeed broadband service to unserved premises in

Port Byron Tel’s rural franchise service territory. Port

Byron Tel is the State-certified ILEC in New York. 

The project is designed to serve three PFSAs in its

franchised service territory, which is 100 percent rural

and includes two communities. These PFSAs have

166 premises (160 households and 6 businesses) that

have no access to broadband service. Port Byron

Tel has built a broadband network that is capable

of serving the majority of these premises in several

of the core communities, but the surrounding area,

which is sparsely populated, lacks broadband access

due to the high cost of building such a network. In

addition, facilities-based terrestrial broadband service

is unavailable to the premises in the PFSAs. This

project will provide access to high-speed broadband

service (20 Mbps upstream and downstream

combined). The network is also engineered so that it

can be easily upgraded at a reasonable cost to meet

future needs. The project will create or save 17 jobs.

St. Regis Mohawk Tribe

St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Connect (Economic 

Development for the 21st Century)

Last Mile

$528,125 Loan

$10,034,392 Grant

The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe will bring a lastmile fiber-optic network to its tribal lands in

north-central New York. This project will link

68 miles of fiber network to the Open Access

Telecommunications Network of the Development

Authority of North Country, to ION Incorporated

Network, and to Nicholville’s network. The network

will make services available to 1,500 households,

200 businesses, and 42 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save an estimated 784 jobs.
54 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Slic Network Solutions, Inc.

Franklin County, NY, Broadband Initiative

Last Mile Remote

$1,066,000 Loan

$4,262,642 Grant

Slic Network Solutions, Inc., will construct 136 miles

of fiber-optic cable to deliver advanced broadband

service in western Franklin County. The network

will provide voice and IPTV services over the same

facilities. The network will make services available

to 6,508 households, 29 businesses, and 10 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 10 jobs. 

Slic Network Solutions, Inc.

St. Lawrence Broadband Initiative

Last Mile

$6,958,193 Loan

$20,874,574 Grant

Slic Network Solutions, Inc., will construct 660 miles

of fiber-optic cable in 10 PFSAs to make services

available to 5,856 households, 112 businesses, and

30 anchor institutions in St. Lawrence County. The

PFSAs can be separated into two groups: the

northern and southern serving areas. The northern

group consists of Flackville, Knapps Station,

Pierrepont, Slab City-Crary Mills, Southville, and

St. Lawrence North. These service areas in the

northern part of the county cover 414 square miles

of primarily agricultural areas. The southern group

includes communities along the New York State

Route 3 corridor, including Star Lake, Wanakena,

Cranberry Lake, and Piercefield, which are in the

towns of Fine, Clifton, and Piercefield. All have been

chronically unserved because of their isolated location

in the foothills of the Adirondacks. Broadband

service is currently unavailable to the residents of

these communities. Slic Network Solutions will

deploy a 100 percent fiber-optic network using

Occam GPON equipment. The company will use

infrastructure obtained through its round one BIP

award. The project will create or save 67 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Windstream New York, Inc. 26

Last Mile

$855,901 Grant

Windstream Corporation will offer broadband

service speeds of up to 12 Mbps in Clymer,

Columbus, Ellery, French Creek, Mina, and Sherman

by deploying industry-standard DSLAMs with

ADSL2+. The network will make services available

to 571 households, 8 businesses, and 8 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 53 jobs.

NORTH CAROLINA

Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation

Columbus County ACCESS (Advanced Connectivity 

for Communities, Education, Safety and Support)

Last Mile

$4,801,025 Loan

$11,202,393 Grant

Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation (ATMC)

will implement the Columbus County ACCESS

project to deploy FTTH to all premises in the

PFSA. The project will serve a rural, 185-squaremile area near the eastern boundary of Columbus

and Brunswick counties in the southeastern part of

the State. The network will make services available

to 3,641 households, 274 small businesses, and 35

anchor institutions to provide them with access to

high-speed broadband service with speeds from

1.5 Mbps to 5.0 Mbps. The project will leverage

ATMC’s existing 10 GigE core backbone, backhaul,

and IP connections through interconnection to

a GigE fiber ring to be deployed in the PFSA. 

The FTTP network will use GPON network

gear. The project will create or save 87 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 55

Country Cablevision, Inc.

Yancey Mitchell Rural Broadband

Last Mile

$6,324,250 Loan

$18,972,750 Grant

Country Cablevision, Inc., will deliver digital TV,

data, and VoIP to all customers in Mitchell and

Yancey counties. The PFSAs lie in the Appalachian

Mountains of western North Carolina, bordering

the Tennessee line. The project will install an FTTN

broadband system delivering RFoG. The project

will update and expand the company’s operating

system to enable high-speed broadband access at

speeds of up to 20 Mbps to make services available to

14,029 households, 1,963 businesses, and 123 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 22 jobs.

French Broad Electric Membership Corporation

French Broad Electric BPL Project

Last Mile

$621,492 Loan

$1,154,200 Grant

French Broad Electric Membership Corporation

(FBEMC) will provide broadband Internet access

to Beech Glenn, Laurel, and Spring Creek, and the

areas of Marshall and Mars Hill. The technology used

in this project includes fiber-optic communications

as the middle-mile backhaul link and BPL as the

last-mile medium to provide service to subscribers. 

FBEMC chose this technological combination

because it can use existing infrastructure to

deploy the system and minimize project cost. 

The network will make services available to

1,016 households, 699 businesses, and 6 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 33 jobs.

Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation

Lumbee River EMC Broadband Economic 

Development Initiative

Last Mile

$4,986,935 Loan

$14,960,804 Grant

Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation

will provide high-speed broadband access in

southern North Carolina. The project will offer

voice, video, and data services on an active GPON

network using fiber-optic cable and passive and

active components. The FTTH last-mile project

will provide broadband service speeds of 100

Mbps or higher and will make services available to

11,384 households, 1,634 businesses, and 95 anchor

institutions. The company will own and operate

the fiber network while partnering with Innovative

Communications, Inc., to provide all customer service

functions. The project will create or save 51 jobs.

Skyline Telephone Membership Corporation

High Country Fiber

Last Mile

$7,739,073 Loan

$18,057,838 Grant

Skyline Telephone Membership Corporation will

substantially expand the provision of advanced FTTH

services via a fiber-optic network with combined

speeds exceeding 20 Mbps to 6,019 households, 521

businesses, and 84 anchor institutions in Alleghany

and Ashe counties in rural northwestern North

Carolina. The project will create or save 85 jobs.

Tri-County Telephone Membership Corporation

TriCounty Telecom FTTP Project

Last Mile

$3,536,805 Loan

$10,610,410 Grant

Tri-County Telephone Membership Corporation will

offer broadband service using FTTP technology

in northeast Beaufort County and parts of Hyde

and Washington counties. This project will deploy

a GPON network with the inherent capability to

deliver broadband service speeds of 80 Mbps. 

The network will make services available to 4,312

households, 889 businesses, and 32 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 77 jobs. 
56 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Utopian Wireless Corporation

Utopian Riegelwood WiMAX Project

Last Mile

$115,249 Loan

$345,744 Grant

The Utopian Riegelwood WiMAX project will make

available advanced 4G wireless broadband service to

underserved communities in and around Riegelwood. 

The rural PFSA includes part of Columbus County,

and covers an estimated 1,255 households, 452

businesses, and 32 anchor institutions. Using 2.5

GHz spectrum, Utopian will deploy a broadband

wireless system that features Motorola Mobile WiMAX

technology. The project will create or save 10 jobs.

Wilkes Telecommunications, Inc.

Wilkes Stimulus Project

Last Mile

$6,483,300 Loan

$15,127,700 Grant

Wilkes Telephone Membership Corporation, Inc.,

will provide last-mile, high-speed broadband to

rural portions of Wilkes County in 10 underserved

PFSAs. The PFSAs comprise 630 square miles. 

The fiber-optic upgrade will provide higher speed

broadband service to many households, businesses,

and anchor institutions, plus voice and video

services. The network will make services available to

3,680 households, 3,358 businesses, and 45 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 160 jobs.

Yadkin Valley Telephone Membership Corporation

Yadkin Valley Rural FTTH

Last Mile

$10,834,116 Loan

$10,834,116 Grant

Yadkin Valley Telephone Membership Corporation

will deploy 496 miles of high-capacity, last-mile FTTH

service in rural North Carolina. The seven PFSAs

comprise small, sparsely populated communities

with no high-speed access that are in critical need

of sustained economic development and support for

anchor institutions. The network will make services

available to 5,121 households, 606 businesses, and 56

anchor institutions. The project will deploy GPON

FTTH to provide 65 Mbps of bandwidth per premise,

with up to 1 Gbps of Ethernet service. The area has

the potential to become a medical records processing

hub. The project will create or save 57 jobs.

NORTH DAKOTA

BEK Communications Cooperative

Rural Burleigh County, ND, FTTP

Last Mile Non-remote

$2,016,571 Loan

$1,986,473 Grant

BEK Communications Cooperative will deploy lastmile technology to provide FTTP broadband service

to underserved homes and anchor institutions

in rural Burleigh County. This will aid business

growth and support public safety facilities in rural

areas. The network will make services available

to 542 households and 2 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save nine jobs.

Consolidated Enterprises, Inc.

CEI Broadband Infrastructure Project

Last Mile

$5,782,361 Loan

$5,782,361 Grant

Consolidated Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) will serve two

PFSAs in rural Belfield and Dickinson, western North

Dakota. The project is an FTTH expansion to CEI’s

existing fixed-wireless data system in those areas. CEI

will build fiber to the least populated areas of those

communities where it has been cost-prohibitive to

deploy FTTH and DSL. CEI will build out its facilities

to make services available to 1,421 households in the

PFSAs and 231 businesses and will provide voice and

video, as well as data services at speeds of up to

100 Mbps. The project will create or save 25 jobs.

Dakota Central Telecom l – Streeter and Gackle

Dakota Central Telecom l – Streeter and Gackle

Last Mile Remote

$2,252,250 Grant

Dakota Central Telecom I will provide FTTP

broadband service to households, businesses,

and anchor institutions in portions of the Streeter

and Gackle exchanges that are remote, rural, and

unserved. The network will make services available

to 221 households, 5 businesses, and 4 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save nine jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 57

Griggs County Telephone Co.

Griggs County/Moore & Liberty Broadband 

Development

Last Mile

$5,524,010 Loan

$16,572,031 Grant

Griggs County Telephone Co. will provide last-mile

FTTH technology for broadband access and voice,

video, and data services to underserved rural areas

in eastern North Dakota. The area is a designated

Griggs-Steele Empowerment Zone because of the

out-migration, poverty, and unemployment rates. 

This project will build facilities to extend video and

data services at speeds of up to 100 Mbps. The two

Griggs County PFSAs encompass four communities

and portions of five rural counties. Griggs County

will also provide service to the rural portions of two

exchanges in other counties. The Moore & Liberty

PFSA includes two communities and portions of three

counties. The network will make services available

to 1,787 households, 406 businesses, and 17 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 248 jobs.

Halstad Telephone Company

HTC Hillsboro ND Rural FTTP

Last Mile Non-remote

$2,027,600 Loan

$2,027,600 Grant

The Halstad Telephone Company will deploy FTTP

broadband Internet and video service to 410

locations in rural Hillsboro, North Dakota, utilizing

283 miles of fiber-optic cable and providing those

locations with a broadband capability of 100

Mbps. The network will make services available

to 399 households, 10 businesses, and 1 anchor

institution. The project will create or save one job.

Halstad Telephone Company

HTC Hillsboro ND Town Broadband

Last Mile Non-remote

$246,500 Loan

$246,500 Grant

The Halstad Telephone Company project will

install electronic enhancements to existing DSL

service to increase broadband capability to

100 Mbps for Internet and video service in the

town of Hillsboro, North Dakota. The network

will make services available to 736 households,

75 businesses, and 25 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save three jobs.

Inter-Community Telephone Company, Inc.

ICTC FTTH Upgrade

Last Mile

$713,289 Loan

$1,625,362 Grant

Inter-Community Telephone Company, a local

exchange carrier based in Nome, will implement a

last-mile fiber project to make broadband available

in three small, underserved rural communities—Hope,

Sanborn, and Tower City—in the counties of Barnes,

Cass, and Steele, respectively, in east-central North

Dakota. The network will make services available

to an estimated 412 premises. This project includes

improvement and connectivity for businesses and

anchor institutions. The project will implement

broadband through FTTH with speeds of up to 100

Mbps. The project will create or save 32 jobs.

Red River Rural Telephone Association, Inc.

RRT FTTP Broadband Upgrade Rural MN, ND, and SD 

Exchanges

Last Mile

$4,362,450 Loan

$4,362,450 Grant

Red River Rural Telephone Association, Inc., will

offer FTTP broadband service speeds of up to

100 Mbps. The project will install 690 miles of

fiber-optic cable to serve six rural exchanges in

Ransom, Richland, and Sargent counties in North

Dakota, as well as Wilkin County in Minnesota,

and Marshall and Roberts counties in South

Dakota. The network will make services available

to 996 households, 219 businesses, and 6 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 106 jobs.
58 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Reservation Telephone Cooperative

Last Mile Broadband to Rural ND and MT

Last Mile Non-remote

$8,760,000 Loan

$8,760,000 Grant

Reservation Telephone Cooperative will deploy FTTH

technology to bring affordable and reliable broadband

access and video service to underserved rural areas

in western North Dakota and eastern Montana,

including the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. These

areas include the Squaw Gap service area and the

Mandaree, New Town, Parshall, and Roseglen service

areas. The network will make services available

to 1,124 households, 31 businesses, and 18 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 33 jobs.

SRT Communications, Inc.

FTTP for the Rural North Dakota Community of 

Metigoshe

Last Mile

$2,214,758 Loan

$2,214,758 Grant

SRT Communications, Inc., will provide broadband

to subscribers served by the Metigoshe exchange. 

The project will provide broadband service to towns

and rural subscribers within the PFSA. Utilizing

fiber-optic cable, the project will allow SRT to

provide more than 20 Mbps broadband access

to 445 households, 2 businesses, and 218 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 72 jobs.

OHIO

Benton Ridge Telephone Company

Benton Ridge Telephone Company Broadband 

Expansion Project - Benton Ridge

Last Mile Non-remote

$1,611,124 Loan

$1,547,942 Grant

The Benton Ridge Telephone Company will deploy

an FTTH system in the Benton Ridge exchange

of south central Ohio. The system will provide a

dedicated fiber-optic connection for each customer. 

The network will make services available to 510

households, 19 businesses, and 1 anchor institution. 

The project is expected to create or save 34 jobs.

Consolidated Electric Cooperative, Inc.

North Central Ohio Rural Fiber Optic Network

Middle Mile

$1,399,499 Loan

$1,034,413 Grant

Consolidated Electric Cooperative, Inc., will construct

an open-connectivity fiber-optic backbone network. 

This middle-mile project is integral to a smart grid

initiative and broadband service that will bring

urban connectivity to rural Ohio. The network

will make services available to 35,708 households,

2,002 businesses, and 49 anchor institutions.

Hometown Cable Company, LLC

Unincorporated Areas of Darke/Preble County 

Network

Last Mile

$2,359,926 Loan

$2,267,380 Grant

Hometown Cable Company, LLC will deploy a

wireless wide area network with fixed and mobile

broadband service throughout Darke and Preble

counties. The network will make services available to

19,664 households, 522 businesses, and 206 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 31 jobs.

Intelliwave, LLC

The Athens, Fairfield, and Pickaway County, Ohio, 

Rural Broadband Initiative

Last Mile Non-remote

$1,162,599 Loan

$1,116,997 Grant

Intelliwave, LLC will leverage Recovery Act funds

to deliver wireless broadband and VoIP phone

service to underserved rural communities in Athens,

Fairfield, and Pickaway counties. The network

will make services available to 11,428 households,

431 businesses, and 73 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save seven jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 59

Nelsonville TV Cable, Inc.

Nelsonville TV Cable HFC Broadband Addition

Last Mile

$1,391,452 Loan

$3,246,721 Grant

Nelsonville TV Cable, Inc., will expand its HFC

broadband to reach approximately 1,500 unserved

rural homes in a persistent poverty area of

southeastern Ohio. The project will expand the

company’s network into 14 unserved, noncontiguous,

and isolated communities. The PFSAs range from

less than 1 square mile up to 12 square miles each. 

The PFSAs include parts of 10 communities in 3

counties. The network will pass 1,461 households,

3,295 businesses, and 44 anchor institutions. 

The project will add a digital HFC network that

provides high-speed Internet access speeds of 5.5

Mbps downstream and 650 Kbps upstream. The

project will expand the network from its headend to area nodes, requiring new equipment in

addition to 120 new miles of fiber and 80 miles

of coax cable. The new cable will be 100 percent

aerial, using existing rights-of-way and utility

poles. The project will create or save 20 jobs.

New Era Broadband, LLC

Meigs County Broadband Infrastructure Project for 

Advancement of Rural Economic Development

Last Mile

$738,733 Loan

$2,216,196 Grant

New Era Broadband, LLC will provide last-mile

infrastructure to provide fixed P2MP wireless

broadband service in Meigs County in Appalachia. 

Forty-four percent of the households in the State

that are unserved by broadband are in Appalachian

Ohio, which is a contributing factor in the ranking

of Meigs County as one of the five poorest counties

in the State. The project will provide broadband

Internet service to a PFSA of approximately 266

square miles, comprising 3,386 unserved households,

165 unserved businesses, and 6 unserved anchor

institutions. New Era will offer wireless broadband

and VoIP, with minimum network speeds of 768

Kbps downstream and 200 Kbps upstream, as

well as 3 Mbps combined speeds in qualified

areas. The project will create or save 200 jobs.

Southern Ohio Communication Services, Inc.

Southern Ohio Underserved Rural Broadband Build

Last Mile

$738,705 Loan

$709,736 Grant

Southern Ohio Communication Services, Inc., will

build a project in Appalachia. It will make broadband

Internet and VoIP services available to 6,126 premises,

the majority of which have no broadband service

available. Adams and Pike counties will be served. In

addition, the project will offer 3 Mbps upstream and

2 Mbps downstream service to the entire population

in the company’s service areas. The company will

offer voice services through a wireless signal along

with broadband data service to residential, business,

and anchor institution customers. The company

will add tower locations to the current network and

upgrade some backhaul links to higher capacity

service. The project will create or save 400 jobs.

Sycamore Telephone Company, Inc.

Sycamore FTTH

Last Mile

$1,452,310 Loan

$2,697,145 Grant

Sycamore Telephone Company, Inc., will build a

fiber network in a rural PFSA to provide high-speed

Internet service in the community of Sycamore Village

and the villages of McCutchenville and Melmore. The

technology will be over dark fiber to households and

splitters will be in the central and two remote offices

to implement GPON technology. The remaining

remote locations will be upgraded with fiber feeds

to allow bandwidth upgrade to GigE. This will

provide DSL speeds from 8 to 20 Mbps. The project

will serve 1,769 households, 450 businesses, and 14

anchor institutions. In the areas outside the villages,

fiber will be placed to the existing DSL terminals,

allowing the company to provide broadband speeds

of over 5 Mbps to the subscribers throughout its

exchange. The project will create or save 24 jobs.
60 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Utopian Wireless Corporation

Utopian Kinsman WiMAX Project

Last Mile

$348,926 Loan

$1,046,778 Grant

The Utopian Kinsman WiMAX project will make

available advanced 4G wireless broadband service

to underserved communities in and around the

Kinsman area. The rural PFSA covers approximately

2,909 households, 543 businesses, and 27 anchor

institutions. Using licensed 2.5 GHz spectrum,

Utopian will deploy a broadband wireless system

that features Motorola Mobile WiMAX technology. 

The system solution includes WiMAX access

points, wireless and wired backhaul, ASN-GW, CSN,

and an IP core that supports authentication and

routing of traffic to application servers and the

Internet. The project will create or save 12 jobs. 

Wabash Mutual Telephone Company

Wabash Mutual Telephone Company, Fort Recovery 

Area FTTH Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$2,201,042 Loan

$2,174,787 Grant

The Wabash Mutual Telephone Company will

install an optical fiber network in its service

area and will provide an advanced technology,

allowing digital television, high-speed Internet

at speeds in excess of 3 Mbps, and telephone

services. The network will make services available

to 938 households, 103 businesses, and 7 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save six jobs.

OKLAHOMA

Atlink

Last Mile Broadband Infrastructure for Unserved, 

Rural Oklahoma Communities

Last Mile

$2,649,681 Loan

$5,897,676 Grant

Atlink will connect 14 Oklahoma towns that are

chronically unserved and suffering from persistent

poverty and unemployment. The project will

deliver advanced tornado warnings and provide

options for Federal and State assistance. The

project includes infrastructure for high-speed

access up to 10 Mbps to 1,660 households,

1,404 businesses, and 6 anchor institutions. The

project will deploy a wireless architecture using

equipment in multiple frequencies to reach the

maximum number of unserved households. The

project is expected to create or save 53 jobs.

Cimarron Telephone Company

Operation Slingshot Cimarron Telephone Company

Last Mile

$21,189,659 Loan

$21,189,658 Grant

Cimarron Telephone Company will implement an

FTTH project to bring wireless broadband service

to underserved rural portions of Creek, Osage, and

Pawnee counties to serve 15 Oklahoma communities

and surrounding rural areas. Portions of the project

will serve Native American tribal lands, including the

Creek, Osage, and Seminole Nations, and Pawnee

Tribe of Oklahoma. The project will make services

available to 8,966 households, 933 businesses,

and 35 anchor institutions. The broadband

system will include a portion of the network for

FTTH based on the ITU-T G.984 Gigabit PON

standard. The project will create or save 65 jobs. 
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 61

Cross Telephone Co.

OBI-2 (Oklahoma Broadband Initiative-Area 2)

Last Mile

$8,796,980 Loan

$8,796,980 Grant

Cross Telephone Co., will offer FTTH and wireless

broadband service speeds of up to 11 Mbps to

underserved areas of 6 counties in Oklahoma. The

network will serve portions of 3 Native American

tribal lands, as well as 20,771 households, 4,183

businesses, and 111 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save an estimated 63 jobs.

Medicine Park Telephone Company

Fiber-to-the-Home Project in the Rural Area of Meers 

in Comanche County, Oklahoma

Last Mile

$101,218 Loan

$303,488 Grant

Medicine Park Telephone Company will offer

broadband service using a GPON FTTH network

in the Meers community in rural and remote

areas of Comanche County. This project will

provide broadband service speeds of 2.4 Gbps

downstream and 1.2 Gbps upstream. The network

will make services available to 114 households,

3 businesses, and 6 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save seven jobs.

Medicine Park Telephone Company

Sterling Oklahoma to Scotland Texas Rural Fiber 

Optic Route

Middle Mile

$1,198,587 Loan

$1,193,802 Grant

Medicine Park Telephone Company will offer

broadband service using an FTTP network

between Sterling, Oklahoma, and Scotland, Texas,

with service speeds between 155 Mbps and 10

Gbps. The network will make services available

to 1,524 households and 22 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save 30 jobs.

Mid-America Telephone, Inc.

Mid-America Telephone, Inc.: Broadband Project to 

Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$1,143,784 Grant

Mid-America Telephone Company, Inc. (Mid-America

Tel), a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will deliver highspeed broadband service to unserved premises in

its rural Oklahoma service territory. Mid-America Tel

is the State-certified ILEC in Oklahoma. The project

will reach 4 PFSAs that include 2 communities with

310 premises (286 households and 24 businesses)

with no access to broadband service. The network

will deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology,

provide VDSL2 access devices packaged in an

FTTN configuration, upgrade access in the central

office to support the extension of the broadband

networks to these remote areas, use PON FTTH

where economically feasible, and allow future

PON upgrades without needing to rebuild the

transport routes. The network will provide 20 Mbps

(upstream and downstream combined) or more DSL

service. This project will create or save 30 jobs.

Oklahoma Communication Systems, Inc.

Oklahoma Communication Systems, Inc.: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$3,570,745 Grant

Oklahoma Communication Systems, Inc. (OCSI),

a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will provide highspeed broadband service to 11 PFSAs that include

8 communities. These PFSAs have 912 premises

(877 households, 34 businesses, and 1 anchor

institution) with no access to broadband service. 

OCSI is the State-certified ILEC in Oklahoma. The

project will provide DSL broadband capability to

unserved rural premises and deliver broadband

high-speed capabilities of 20 Mbps (upstream

and downstream combined). The network will

deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology, provide

VDSL2 access devices that are packaged in an

FTTN configuration, upgrade access in the central

office to support the extension of the broadband

networks to these remote areas, use PON FTTH

where economically feasible, and allow for future PON

upgrades without having to rebuild the transport

routes. The project will create or save 94 jobs.
62 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Panhandle Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

Western OK BB Infrastructure Development

Last Mile Non-remote

$3,366,188 Loan

$10,098,562 Grant

Panhandle Telephone Cooperative, Inc., will build

out broadband infrastructure for rural areas within

the western Oklahoma panhandle. A portion of

this project will also be implemented in Texas. 

The network will make services available to 1,289

households, 76 businesses, and 16 anchor institutions. 

The project is expected to create or save 55 jobs.

Pine Telephone Company, Inc.

Broadband Grant for Isolated Southeastern 

Oklahoma/Choctaw Nation - Rural/Remote Areas

Last Mile Remote

$9,482,316 Grant

Pine Telephone Company, Inc., will use innovative

wireless technology to deliver broadband service

to rural, remote, and economically disadvantaged

areas of southeastern Oklahoma—within the Choctaw

Nation—to create economic growth and jobs, enhance

education and healthcare, and improve public safety. 

The network will make broadband services available

to 4,996 households, 84 businesses, and 31 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 159 jobs.

Pine Telephone Company, Inc.

Last Mile Broadband for Isolated Rural Southeastern 

Oklahoma/Choctaw Nation - Area 2

Last Mile

$2,926,329 Loan

$6,828,101 Grant

Pine Telephone Company, Inc., will offer 3G

universal mobile broadband service in Coal,

Latimer, Le Flore, and Pittsburg counties, within

the Choctaw Nation, in southeast Oklahoma. The

network will make broadband services available to

2,968 households, 107 businesses, and 26 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 20 jobs.

Pine Telephone Company, Inc.

Last-Mile ILEC Fiber-to-the-Home for Isolated Rural 

Southeastern Oklahoma/Choctaw Nation

Last Mile

$15,081,959 Loan

$15,081,958 Grant

Pine Telephone Company, Inc., will provide rural

Oklahoma subscribers with services typically

available in only the most urban areas of the

country. In addition to enabling data rates of up

to 40 Mbps, the network will enable video delivery

via affiliate head-end facilities. Wireless microwave

backhaul will be used in some extremely rugged

portions of the network. A soft switch will enable

the company to convert subscribers to VoIP,

further enhancing network utilization. In addition,

the network will provide backhaul for the wireless

network of Easygrants 1257 awarded in round

one. The network will make services available to

5,414 households, 544 businesses, and 80 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 83 jobs.

Pioneer Long Distance, Inc.

WOW Western Oklahoma Wireless

Last Mile Non-remote

$1,819,349 Loan

$1,783,322 Grant

Pioneer Long Distance, Inc., will provide wireless

broadband service to unserved and underserved

rural areas of western Oklahoma. The network

will make services available to 21,472 households,

2,063 businesses, and 291 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save 14 jobs.

Pioneer Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

Pioneer Tel FTTH Rural Broadband Initiative

Last Mile

$10,958,906 Loan

$24,971,934 Grant

Pioneer Telephone Cooperative, Inc., will offer

FTTH broadband service speeds of up to 20 Mbps

to remote areas within 76 western Oklahoma

telephone exchange boundaries. The network

will make services available to 3,952 households,

160 businesses, and 5 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save 204 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 63

Totah Communications, Inc.

Totah Broadband Expansion Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$2,426,053 Loan

$1,830,180 Grant

Totah Communications, Inc., will upgrade

existing copper-fed DSL nodes to fiber-fed DSL

nodes. This project will also install additional

fiber-fed DSL nodes throughout the service

area. The route will cover 152 miles and will serve

approximately 800 new customers. The network

will make services available to 422 households,

9 businesses, and 8 anchor institutions. The

project is expected to create or save 25 jobs.

Utopian Wireless Corporation

Utopian Prague WiMAX Project

Last Mile

$66,139 Loan

$198,418 Grant

Utopian Wireless Corporation will provide wireless

broadband service to the rural, underserved

communities near Prague, Oklahoma. The rural

PFSA includes an area in Lincoln County and

covers approximately 1,547 households, 106

businesses, and 33 anchor institutions. Utopian

will deploy a broadband wireless system that

features Motorola Mobile WiMAX technology. 

The system includes WiMAX access points,

wireless and wired backhaul, ASN-GW, CSN,

and an IP core that supports authentication and

routing of traffic to application servers and the

Internet. The project will create or save 10 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Oklahoma Windstream, LLC

Last Mile

$2,279,598 Grant

Windstream Corporation will expand broadband

service to unserved customers in the PFSA

comprising the communities of East Cherokee,

Stilwell East, and Stilwell West. The project will

allow Windstream Corporation to extend the

reach of its broadband network to make services

available to 1,667 households and 7 businesses, and

provide broadband to last-mile wireline telephone

subscribers. The project also will provide broadband

service to 14 anchor institutions. Windstream

Corporation will deploy industry standard DSLAMs

using industry standard ADSL2+ protocols to

provide a minimum of 6 Mbps downstream and

786 Kbps upstream data service. The project

will create or save an estimated 41 jobs.

Wyandotte Telephone Company

Wyandotte Telephone Company: Broadband Project 

to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$702,933 Grant

Wyandotte Telephone Company (Wyandotte Tel), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will provide high-speed

broadband service to unserved premises in two rural

Oklahoma PFSAs that include three communities. The

project will make services available to 226 premises

(192 households and 34 businesses) that have no

access to broadband service. Wyandotte Tel is the

State-certified ILEC in Oklahoma. The network

will deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology to its

fullest potential, provide VDSL2 access devices in an

FTTN configuration, upgrade access in the central

office to support the extension of the broadband

networks to these remote areas, use PON FTTH where

economically feasible, and allow for future upgrades

without needing to rebuild the transport routes. 

Target speed of the expanded network will be at 20

Mbps (upstream and downstream combined) or more

DSL service. This project will create or save 18 jobs.
64 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

OREGON

Cascade Networks, Inc.

Rural Clatskanie Broadband Initiative

Last Mile

$578,316 Loan

$578,316 Grant

Cascade Networks, Inc., in cooperation with

Clatskanie People’s Utility District in Columbia

County, will build a last-mile project in rural Clatskanie

to provide broadband service to 410 households,

72 businesses, and 2 anchor institutions. The key

business area to be served is the Port Westward

light industrial development, an industrial park on

the Columbia River. The infrastructure buildout

includes extending fiber to the Clatskanie People’s

Utility District substations to allow more efficient

management of the power grid. The project will

provide broadband to support data, voice, and IPTV

services over a hybrid system of fiber-optic and

wireless equipment. The system will be primarily

FTTH, with wireless micronodes at points on the

edge of the service area where fiber is not a practical

option. The project will create or save two jobs.

Cascade Utilities, Inc.

Cascade Utilities Broadband Project

Last Mile

$1,299,433 Loan

$3,898,299 Grant

Cascade Utilities, Inc., will lay 127 miles of fiber-optic

cable and install or replace 21 DSLAMs in rural areas

in Oregon that do not have high-speed broadband

access. The network will make services available to

5,814 households, 1,104 businesses, and 19 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 12 jobs.

City of Sandy

Sandy Broadband Infrastructure Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$374,548 Loan

$374,537 Grant

The Sandy Broadband Infrastructure Project will

improve and expand wireless Internet service

provided by SandyNet, a municipal Internet service

provider operated by the City of Sandy, Oregon. 

The project will add new antenna towers to upgrade

equipment to 8 Mbps capacity and provide fiber

backhaul. The network will make services available

to 3,908 households, 150 businesses, and 20 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 10 jobs.

Gervais Telephone Company

Marion County Broadband Buildout

Last Mile Non-remote

$314,430 Loan

$314,430 Grant

Gervais Telephone Company will expand an

existing fiber network. The project will provide

broadband connectivity to 121 households, 24

businesses, and 4 anchor institutions in rural Marion

County. The project will create or save nine jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 65

Monroe Telephone Company

Monroe Telephone Cheshire & Greenberry Buildout 

Project

Last Mile

$1,413,684 Loan

$4,241,050 Grant

Monroe Telephone Company will extend broadband

services using FTTP to three remote, sparsely

populated, mostly agricultural areas. The PFSAs are

unserved. The project will construct a small middlemile fiber-optic connection to an interconnection

point in Junction City. The network will make

services available to 959 households, 29 businesses,

and 7 anchor institutions. The project’s backhaul

will also make fiber connectivity available to six

anchor institutions in the Junction City area. 

The broadband system is GPON standard FTTP

architecture with fiber-fed remote cabinets in the

field to interconnect the end users with the Internet. 

This last-mile network will provide the residents,

businesses, and anchor institutions with access to

broadband service at minimum speeds up to 20

Mbps at affordable rates, with broadband speeds up

to 100 Mbps. Discounts will be offered for service

to critical community institutions and socially

and economically disadvantaged small business

concerns. The project will create or save four jobs.

Trans-Cascades Telephone Company

Trans-Cascades Broadband Project

Last Mile

$590,099 Loan

$1,770,294 Grant

Trans-Cascades Telephone Company will offer

broadband service at a minimum speed of 10

Mbps in remote eastern Oregon, in Jefferson,

Wasco, and Wheeler counties. The network

will make services available to 136 households,

46 businesses, and 3 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save 10 jobs.

Warm Springs Telecommunications Company

The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs 

Reservation Broadband Network

Last Mile

$2,722,960 Loan

$2,722,960 Grant

Warm Springs Telecommunications Company,

representing the Tribal Council of the Confederated

Tribes of Warm Springs in central Oregon, will

implement phase I of a long-range plan to provide

advanced telecommunications service to all

homes, businesses, and critical facilities on this

1,000-square-mile reservation. The PFSA has

three main communities. The project will make

services available to 755 households, 22 businesses,

and 233 anchor institutions. The company will

construct a hybrid broadband network with fiber

backbone and a mix of fiber and wireless links. The

network will connect all government agencies,

businesses, critical and emergency facilities, and

most homes on the reservation with either fiber

or wireless to provide broadband Internet access

with speeds of up to 5 Mbps and basic telephone

service. The project will create or save 33 jobs.

PENNSYLVANIA

Deposit Telephone Company, Inc.

Deposit Telephone Company, Inc.: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$125,754 Grant

Deposit Telephone Company, Inc. (Deposit Tel), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed

broadband service to unserved premises. Deposit

Tel is the State-certified ILEC in New York. The

project will serve six PFSAs that include six

communities. These PFSAs have 48 premises

that have no access to broadband service. This

project will bring access to high-speed broadband

service (20 Mbps upstream and downstream

combined). The network is engineered so that

it can be easily upgraded to meet future needs. 

The project will create or save three jobs.
66 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Keystone Wireless, LLC

Keystone Wireless Broadband Initiative

Last Mile

$11,096,780 Loan

$25,286,105 Grant

Keystone Wireless, LLC will offer 3G broadband

service in Berks, Centre, Clinton, Lycoming,

Mountour, Northumberland, Schuylkill, Snyder, and

Union counties in central Pennsylvania. Keystone

will upgrade its core network infrastructure and

162 base stations with 3G wireless broadband

technology to bring high-speed Internet service

throughout the PFSAs. The network will make

services available to 368,028 households, 26,882

businesses, and 9,035 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save 56 jobs.

West Virginia PCS Alliance, LC

Rural Mobile Broadband Initiative - Maryland

Last Mile

$1,503,518 Grant

West Virginia PCS Alliance LC and NTELOS Licenses

Inc., both subsidiaries of NTELOS Holdings Corp., will

expand West Virginia PCS Alliance’s wireless services

to provide 3G mobile broadband service in unserved

rural portions of western Maryland and south-central

Pennsylvania north of Hagerstown. The PFSAs

comprise 8 communities with more than 50 percent

of the premises lacking high-speed broadband

service. The project will make services available to

35,459 households, 4,110 businesses, and 876 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 11 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Windstream Pennsylvania, LLC

Last Mile

$20,497,604 Grant

Windstream Corporation will offer broadband

service to a large number of communities in

Pennsylvania. The project will use industry standard

ADSL2+ protocols that will offer broadband

speeds of up to 12 Mbps. The network will make

services available to 31,684 households, 1,793

businesses, and 105 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save more than 345 jobs.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Home Telephone Company, Inc.

Low Country Broadband Last-Mile Project

Last Mile

$1,000,000 Loan

$2,979,868 Grant

Home Telephone Company, Inc., will provide

broadband service to unserved or underserved

rural areas in portions of Berkeley, Dorchester, and

Orangeburg counties and the Cross and Harleyville

areas. The project will deliver voice services, highspeed Internet access (up to 20 Mbps), and RF

video service to customers through an ITU GPON

standards-based Calix C7 GPON system. The

company will install single-mode fiber-optic cable

for voice and data. The network will make services

available to 1,143 households, 1 business, and 7 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 14 jobs. 

Orangeburg County

Southeastern Orangeburg County FTTP

Last Mile

$4,662,501 Loan

$13,987,499 Grant

Orangeburg County will offer FTTP technology

to residents in the communities of Bethel Forest,

Canaan, Cattle Creek, Homestead, Lambrick,

McAlhany, Pea Ridge, Rowesville, and Sixty Six. 

The network will cover 278 square miles and

will make services available to 3,631 households,

90 businesses, and 12 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save an estimated 70 jobs.

Windstream Corporation

Windstream South Carolina, LLC

Last Mile

$3,050,160 Grant

Windstream Corporation will offer broadband

service to the communities of Cameron, Fort MotteLone Star, Highland, Kershaw, Landrun, Lexington,

Mount Pisgah, North, Orangeburg, Sandy RunStaley, St. Matthews, and Westville. The project

will use industry standard ADSL2+ protocols that

will offer broadband service speeds of up to 12

Mbps. The network will make services available to

3,543 households, 286 businesses, and 40 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 40 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 67

SOUTH DAKOTA

Midstate Communications, Inc.

Chamberlain/Oacoma Fiber-to-the-Home

Last Mile

$2,728,118 Loan

$6,365,610 Grant

Midstate Communications, Inc., will offer FTTH

access in the Chamberlain/Oacoma exchange

with broadband service speeds of up to 1 Gbps. 

The network will make services available to

1,486 households, 176 businesses, and 28 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 99 jobs.

TrioTel Communications, Inc.

TrioTel Fiber-to-the-Home Broadband Deployment 

Project

Last Mile

$3,704,212 Loan

$8,643,163 Grant

TrioTel Communications, Inc., will provide highspeed Internet service in the communities of

Alexandria, Canova, Emery, Farmer, Salem, and

Spencer and the surrounding rural areas via an

FTTH network. The network will provide service to

1,654 households, 986 businesses, and 127 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 15 jobs.

Venture Communications Cooperative

Cresbard, Orient, and Faulkton Exchanges

Last Mile

$2,614,957 Loan

$2,614,956 Grant

Venture Communications Cooperative will provide

broadband service to households, businesses, and

key community organizations that are underserved

in the Cresbard, Faulkton, and Orient exchanges. 

The network will make services available to

749 households, 108 businesses, and 15 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 76 jobs.

TENNESSEE

Bledsoe Telephone Cooperative Corporation

Nine Mile and College Station Broadband Upgrade

Last Mile

$1,527,352 Loan

$3,563,821 Grant

Bledsoe Telephone Cooperative Corporation (BTC)

will extend high-speed broadband service to two

PFSAs in eastern middle Tennessee. The project

will upgrade facilities in two telephone exchanges,

College Station and Nine Mile. BTC will establish

36 new aggregation points connected to the main

exchange offices by fiber-optic cable. Existing

copper cable facilities will be reconfigured between

the new aggregation points and subscriber locations. 

BTC will provide ADSL service speeds of up to

10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. The

premises remaining beyond the reconfiguration will

be designed customer-by-customer to provide them

with a minimum of 19 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps

upstream. The network will make services available

to 2,675 households, 148 businesses, and 9 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 40 jobs.

Highland Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

Highland Telephone Cooperative FTTH Build-Out

Last Mile

$11,801,827 Loan

$35,405,478 Grant

Highland Telephone Cooperative (HTC) will enhance

broadband communication options for the residents

of McCreary, Morgan, and Scott counties in rural

Tennessee and Kentucky. HTC will construct an

FTTH wireline fiber-optic cable network, configured

in PON architecture, able to support speeds in

excess of 20 Gbps for all subscribers in its exchange

boundaries. The network will make services available

to 15,371 households, 1,301 businesses, and 75 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 52 jobs.
68 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Millington Telephone Company, Inc.

Mason/Stanton Broadband Expansion

Last Mile

$1,141,987 Loan

$2,664,635 Grant

Millington Telephone Company, Inc., will expand

access to high-speed broadband service to customers,

businesses, and anchor institutions in areas where 75

percent of the premises lack high-speed access and

20 percent of the households are unserved by basic

broadband. The PFSA comprises 166 square miles

in rural western Tennessee in portions of Fayette,

Haywood, and Tipton counties. Communities in the

PFSA are Asbury, Braden, Danceyville, Fredonia,

Keeling, Longtown, and Stanton. The project will

make services available to 1,603 households, 53

businesses, and 16 anchor institutions. The company

will offer community and public safety facilities

a discount on broadband services. The project

will use an FTTN system and broadband loop

carrier equipment as the standard for the ADSL2+

aggregation design. The fiber-optic cable design

is laid out using three 1 GigE rings to backhaul the

broadband data from the major aggregation points

to the main data collection and switching center. The

major aggregation points are the existing central

offices in the five current telephone exchanges in

Millington’s network. Broadband speeds of up to

10 Mbps downstream and 2.0 Mbps upstream for

residential subscribers and up to 15 Mbps downstream

and 2.0 Mbps upstream for businesses will be

provided. The project will create or save 84 jobs.

North Central Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

Broadband Infrastructure Investment Program

Last Mile Non-remote

$24,964,000 Loan

$24,715,709 Grant

North Central Telephone Cooperative will provide

the infrastructure to offer advanced voice,

video, and data services exceeding 20 Mbps

to remote and rural communities in the service

area of northern Tennessee. The network will

make services available to 14,824 households,

951 businesses, and 48 anchor institutions. The

project is expected to create or save 150 jobs.

Scott County Telephone Cooperative

FTTP South Scott County

Last Mile

$447,300 Loan

$1,043,700 Grant

Scott County Telephone Cooperative will deploy

FTTP technology in south Scott County and a

small portion of Russell County. The network will

be an active Ethernet system and will provide

broadband service speeds of up to 10 Gbps. 

The network will make services available to 292

households, 5 businesses, and 1 anchor institution. 

The project will create or save nine jobs.

Skyline Telephone Membership Corporation

High Country Fiber

Last Mile

$956,515 Loan

$2,231,868 Grant

Skyline Telephone Membership Corporation will

substantially expand advanced FTTH service

via a fiber-optic network with combined speeds

exceeding 20 Mbps to 744 households, 64

businesses, and 10 anchor institutions in Alleghany

and Ashe counties in rural, northwestern North

Carolina. The project will create or save 10 jobs.

Sunset Digital Communications, Inc.

TRANSFORM Tennessee

Last Mile

$2,452,939 Loan

$22,076,454 Grant

Sunset Digital Communications, Inc., will offer

broadband service speeds of up to 1 Gbps. The

network will use DWDM to also provide bandwidths

up to 1.6 Tbps. The PFSA is located in the

Appalachians of northeast Tennessee and includes

two persistent poverty counties. Sunset Digital

Communications plans to partner with three funded

middle-mile projects and has synergistic operations

planned with two other last-mile applications. 

The network will make services available to

11,021 households, 471 businesses, and 65 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 73 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 69

Tennessee Telephone Company, Inc.

Tennessee Telephone Company: Broadband Project 

to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$5,150,691 Grant

Tennessee Telephone Company (Tennessee Tel), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed

broadband service to unserved premises in its rural

franchise service territory. Tennessee Tel is the Statecertified ILEC in Tennessee. The project will serve 11

rural PFSAs that include 9 communities. Within the

PFSAs, there are 1,576 premises (1,499 households,

46 businesses, and 31 anchor institutions) with no

access to broadband service. The network will

deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology, provide

VDSL2 access devices that are packaged in an

FTTN configuration, upgrade access in the central

office to support the extension of the broadband

networks to these remote areas, use PON FTTH

where economically feasible, and allow for future

PON upgrades without needing to rebuild the

transport routes. The target speed to unserved

customers is at 20 Mbps (upstream and downstream

combined). The project will create or save 135 jobs.

Twin Lakes Telephone Cooperative Corporation

Twin Lakes Telephone Cooperative Corp.: Fiber-tothe-Home Broadband Project

Last Mile

$16,076,833 Loan

$16,076,834 Grant

Twin Lakes Telephone Cooperative Corporation will

provide broadband service to the rural exchanges

of Byrdstown, Celina, Clarkrange, and Moss. The

network will make services available to 3,956

households, 1,328 businesses, and 84 anchor

institutions. The project will promote economic

development in rural areas that have consistently

higher than average unemployment rates and

areas that are in persistent poverty counties. The

project will create or save an estimated 349 jobs.

West Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative 

Corporation, Inc.

West Kentucky and West Tennessee Broadband FTTH 

Initiative

Last Mile

$19,189,000 Loan

$19,189,000 Grant

West Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative

Corporation, Inc. (WK&T) will build a fiber-optic

construction project to provide broadband

infrastructure to rural southwest Kentucky in the

counties of Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves,

Hickman, and Marshall, and in the northwest

Tennessee counties of Henry, Obion, and Weakley. 

The network will make services available to

5,382 households, 1,119 businesses, and 31 anchor

institutions. At the conclusion of the project,

WK&T expects to double its data subscribers and

have almost 90 percent of its customer base, more

than 14,000 customers, on broadband, with data

speeds averaging 1.5 Mbps or higher. In addition,

fiber broadband will be available to 99 public

facilities. The project will create or save 50 jobs.

TEXAS

ATSI Communications, Inc.

South Texas Broadband Technology Progreso TX

Last Mile

$416,588 Loan

$416,588 Grant

ATSI Communications, Inc., will build a wireline

broadband network infrastructure to provide

last-mile service speeds of up to 6 Mbps in

Progreso. The company will install a point-topoint microwave transponder solution with a

capacity of 250 Mbps connecting its Internet

POP to its cable network head-end in Progreso. 

The network will make services available to

1,010 households, 852 businesses, and 14 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 24 jobs.
70 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Blossom Telephone Company

Red River Broadband Expansion Project

Middle Mile

$833,303 Loan

$1,944,373 Grant

Blossom Telephone Company (BTC) will provide

middle-mile fiber and transmission facilities that

will make available broadband service to unserved

and underserved customers in rural areas in

northeast Texas. The project will provide FTTH

in the Blossom exchange. The 26.5-mile route of

middle-mile fiber facilities will enable the FTTH

facilities to deliver significantly greater bandwidth. 

By leveraging the middle-mile fiber with wireless

last-mile facilities, the project will enable BTC

to provide broadband service to customers. 

Broadband service speeds will exceed 5 Mbps to

all Blossom wireline customers upon completion. 

Wireless customers will be offered packages up

to 3 Mbps along the middle-mile route that is

unserved. The network will make services available

to 1,887 households, 91 businesses, and 11 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 72 jobs.

Electronic Corporate Pages, Inc.

Central Texas Rural Wireless Expansion Project

Last Mile

$586,922 Loan

$1,306,376 Grant 

Electronic Corporate Pages, Inc. (ECPI) will provide

wireless broadband coverage to a 1,226-square-mile

area of rural central Texas. This wireless expansion

project will offer over 3 Mbps combined broadband

service speeds (upstream and downstream) using

Motorola’s Canopy technology. Over the four

counties covered in this project, the network will

make services available to 12,677 households, 6,083

businesses, and 11 anchor institutions. ECPI serves

1,850 customers on 18 towers, which will be expanded

to 24 towers under this project. Using backhaul

technology and proven network management

systems, ECPI will upgrade its core equipment and

deploy a WiMAX system. The network is supported

by ECPI’s two network operations centers, each

of which can be upgraded to full gigabit capacity. 

The project will create or save nine jobs.

Five Area Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

West Texas Broadband Infrastructure Development to 

Support Internet Adoption

Last Mile

$2,454,223 Grant

Five Area Telephone Cooperative will implement the

West Texas Broadband Infrastructure Development

to Support Internet Adoption project. The company

will offer high-speed broadband service to the towns

of Bledsoe, Bula, Clays Corner, Lazbuddie, Maple,

and Needmore in rural west Texas via an FTTP

network. The network will make services available

to 199 households, 235 businesses, and 1 anchor

institution. The project will create or save 16 jobs.

Hill Country Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

Project Rural Connect

Last Mile

$3,670,265 Loan

$8,563,952 Grant

Hill Country Telephone Cooperative, Inc., will

offer broadband service speeds of up to 20 Mbps

(copper) and up to 100 Mbps (fiber). The project

will deploy 560 miles of fiber-optic cable, 280

digital loop carriers, and soft switches throughout a

substantial portion of its service area. The network

will make services available to 1,685 households. 

The project will create or save 448 jobs.

Medicine Park Telephone Company

Sterling Oklahoma to Scotland Texas Rural Fiber 

Optic Route

Middle Mile

$133,176 Loan

$132,645 Grant

Medicine Park Telephone Company will offer

broadband service using an FTTP network

between Sterling, Oklahoma, and Scotland, Texas,

with service speeds between 155 Mbps and 10

Gbps. The network will make services available

to 169 households and 2 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save three jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 71

Mid-Plains Rural Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

Rural Texas Panhandle Mid-Plains

Last Mile

$1,421,000 Loan

$1,388,000 Grant

Mid-Plains Rural Telephone Cooperative will extend a

current project in the rural Texas Panhandle to provide

high-speed broadband service to six underserved

PFSAs. Through a USDA Telecommunications

Loan, Mid-Plains is installing fiber-optic cable to

electronic equipment, FTTH, and fiber between

central offices. This project will extend FTTH facilities

to additional areas. Equipment is being updated in

congested areas to improve service and reliability. 

The 6 newly served PFSAs cover 227 square miles

and the project will make services available to 295

premises, of which 145 are without high-speed access. 

This project will serve 281 rural establishments,

including farms and ranches, and an additional 14

businesses. This project will create or save 39 jobs. 

PRIDE Network

Burkburnett & Iowa Park, TX

Last Mile Non-remote

$12,811,071 Loan

$6,309,931 Grant

PRIDE Network will construct an FTTP

telecommunications infrastructure with a WiMAX

service-extension overlay that will bring advanced

broadband service to the rural communities of

Burkburnett and Iowa Park. In addition, less than

5 percent of this network will serve an area in

Oklahoma. The network will make services available

to 7,804 households, 501 businesses, and 31 anchor

institutions. This project will create or save 400 jobs.

PRIDE Network, Inc.

PRIDE Network

Last Mile Non-remote

$22,720,551 Loan

$21,829,549 Grant

PRIDE Network will construct an FTTP

telecommunications infrastructure with a WiMAX

service-extension overlay that will bring advanced

broadband service to rural communities in the

Texas South Plains region. The network will

make services available to 19,777 households,

2,201 businesses, and 139 anchor institutions. 

This project will create or save 890 jobs.

Telecom Cable, LLC

Last Mile Remote/Rural Telecom Cable

Last Mile

$634,050 Grant

Telecom Cable, LLC will offer high-speed broadband

access via two-way HFC wireline transmission in

the rural areas of Corrigan, Fulshear, and Weston

Lakes. This project will provide broadband

service speeds of at least 5 Mbps. The network

will make services available to 1,854 households,

59 businesses, and 22 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save 20 jobs.

Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

Southern Texas Broadband Infrastructure 

Development and Adoption Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$40,093,153 Loan

$38,520,868 Grant

Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc., will develop

broadband infrastructure in 11 unserved and

underserved rural areas of the South Texas Plains. 

The network will make services available to 19,494

households, 778 businesses, and 196 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 160 jobs.

Wes-Tex Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

Western Texas Broadband Infrastructure 

Development

Last Mile Non-remote

$16,891,875 Loan

$16,891,875 Grant

Wes-Tex Telephone Cooperative, Inc., will

develop broadband infrastructure to increase

Internet availability and access speeds in rural

areas of western Texas. The network will make

services available to 3,298 households, 132

businesses, and 35 anchor institutions. 
72 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Windstream Corporation

Windstream Sugar Land, Inc.

Last Mile

$1,613,509 Grant

Windstream Corporation will provide last-mile

broadband service to unserved premises in four

communities in rural Texas. Windstream will deploy

industry standard DSLAMs using ADSL2+ protocols

to provide a minimum of 6 Mbps downstream and

786 Kbps upstream data service. DSLAMs will be

strategically deployed to reach the greatest number of

unserved customers over the existing wireline copper

plant. The project will make services available to 1,255

households, 139 businesses, and 4 anchor institutions. 

This project will create or save an estimated 31 jobs.

XIT Rural Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

XIT Rural Telephone Cooperative - wFTTP & VDSL2 

Combination Application

Last Mile Non-remote

$3,065,440 Grant

XIT Rural Telephone Cooperative, Inc., will

deploy a combination of FTTP and FTTN VDSL2

technology within two separate service areas

in and around the communities of Dalhart and

Stratford. The network will make services available

to 4,195 households, 396 businesses, and 36 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 10 jobs.

XIT Rural Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

XIT Rural Telephone Cooperative, Inc. - Round 2 Rural 

FTTP Application

Last Mile

$2,112,950 Grant

XIT Rural Telephone Cooperative will replace a copper

telephone plant with fiber to serve three rural PFSAs. 

Using standards-based GPON technology, XIT will

provide 100 Mbps to subscribers in the three PFSAs

of Coldwater, Kerrick, and Middlewater. The project

will make services available to 227 households and 56

businesses. The project will create or save 82 jobs.

UTAH

Central Utah Telephone, Inc.

Basin Broadband Project

Last Mile

$620,724 Loan

$1,862,070 Grant

Central Utah Telephone, Inc., will install 71.1 miles of

middle-mile underground fiber-optic cable in Juab

and Millard Counties and 60 miles of HFC last-mile

cable and electronics and operating systems in the

communities of Delta, Fillmore, Hinckley, Holden, and

Lynndyl. The network will make services available

to 2,107 households, 217 businesses, and 137 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save seven jobs.

South Central Utah Telephone Association, Inc.

Grand Staircase High-Speed Access Broadband 

Initiative

Last Mile

$9,187,244 Grant

South Central Utah Telephone Association, Inc.

(SCUTA) will bring high-speed broadband service to

State parks, national parks, and national monuments

in the PFSA. The PFSA is a 1,416-square-mile

area in south central Utah that includes Bryce

Canyon National Park, Capital Reef National Park,

Kodachrome State Park, Anasazi State Park, and

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, plus

their attendant operation centers or headquarters. 

The area includes 18 communities in Garfield, Kane,

and Wayne counties. The Grand Staircase PFSA

includes 3,020 households, 212 businesses, and 47

anchor institutions. SCUTA will offer broadband

data service at speeds ranging from 1.0 Mbps to 15

Mbps. The project will include both FTTH and highspeed copper networks connected through a fiber

backbone to deliver service to residences, businesses,

community organizations, and government facilities. 

The project will create or save an estimated 25 jobs. 
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 73

VERMONT

VTel Wireless, Inc.

Wireless Open World (WOW) by VTel Wireless, Inc.

Last Mile

$35,166,081 Loan

$81,664,754 Grant

VTel Wireless, Inc., will provide Tri-Band 4G LTE

wireless broadband to virtually every unserved

anchor institution, unserved home, and unserved

business throughout Vermont and parts of New York

State and New Hampshire. VTel Wireless will reach

57,008 households, 3,775 businesses, and 714 anchor

institutions. These include all the 33,165 unserved

households and anchor institutions in Vermont. The

area to be served includes 14 towns and villages in the

most rural region of Vermont. Part of the project will

upgrade every home served by Vermont Telephone

Company to include GigE over active fiber. In another

part of the project, VTel will work with Central

Vermont Public Service, Green Mountain Power,

and the affiliate of Vermont’s electric companies,

VELCO, on a smart grid initiative. The companies

will use VTel’s WiMAX wireless licenses for one of

the Nation’s first two tests of GE’s WiMAX Smart

Meters. The project will create or save 1,870 jobs.

Waitsfield-Fayston Telephone Co., Inc.

Rural Vermont Broadband Advancement Project

Last Mile

$1,667,993 Loan

$3,891,982 Grant

Waitsfield-Fayston Telephone Co., will offer FTTH

broadband service in the counties of Addison,

Chittenden, and Washington. The network will

make services available to 682 households,

56 businesses, and 2 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save 16 jobs.

VIRGINIA

Lenowisco Planning District Commission

ADVANCE Virginia

Last Mile

$6,067,863 Loan

$14,158,344 Grant

Lenowisco Planning District Commission will

offer high-speed fiber-optic broadband service

in the Appalachians of southwest Virginia, a

PFSA that is underserved and includes one

persistent poverty county. The project will

provide broadband service speeds of 1 Gbps. The

network will make services available to 26,768

households, 1,553 businesses, and 109 anchor

institutions The project will create or save 73 jobs.

New Castle Telephone Company

New Castle Telephone Company: Broadband Project 

to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$1,066,321 Grant

New Castle Telephone Company (New Castle Tel),

a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed

broadband service to unserved premises in its

service territory. New Castle Tel is the State-certified

ILEC in Virginia. The project is designed to serve

two PFSAs. These PFSAs have 300 premises (295

households, 4 businesses, and 1 anchor institution)

that have no access to broadband service. New

Castle Tel has built a broadband network that is

capable of serving the majority of these premises in

several of the core communities, but the surrounding

area lacks broadband access. This project will

provide access to high-speed broadband service

(20 Mbps upstream and downstream combined). 

The network is engineered so that it can be easily

upgraded. The project will create or save 28 jobs.
74 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

NTELOS Telephone, Inc.

Alleghany Broadband Now Initiative

Last Mile Non-remote

$8,062,088 Grant

NTELOS Telephone, Inc., will provide broadband

infrastructure to unserved and underserved

homes, businesses, and anchor institutions in

rural Alleghany County. The network will make

services available to 4,216 households, 233

businesses, and 36 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save an estimated 40 jobs.

Scott County Telephone Cooperative

FTTP South Scott County

Last Mile

$7,007,700 Loan

$16,351,300 Grant

Scott County Telephone Cooperative will deploy

FTTP technology in south Scott County and a

small portion of Russell County. The network will

be an active Ethernet system and will provide

broadband service speeds of up to 10 Gbps. 

The network will make services available to

4,581 households, 79 businesses, and 15 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 141 jobs.

Utopian Wireless Corporation

Utopian Mineral WiMAX Project

Last Mile

$117,034 Loan

$351,099 Grant

Utopian Wireless Corporation will make available

advanced 4G wireless broadband service to

underserved communities in and around the

Mineral area. The service area includes an

estimated 1,864 households, 411 businesses, and

50 anchor institutions. Using licensed 2.5 GHz

spectrum, Utopian will deploy a broadband wireless

system. The project will create or save 11 jobs.

WASHINGTON

Cascade Networks, Inc.

Rural Clatskanie Broadband Initiative

Last Mile

$1,287,219 Loan

$1,287,218 Grant

Cascade Networks, Inc., in cooperation with

Clatskanie People’s Utility District in Columbia

County, will undertake a last-mile project in rural

Clatskanie, Oregon, to provide broadband service

to 912 households, 159 businesses, and 4 anchor

institutions. The project will provide broadband

to support data, voice, and IPTV services over

a hybrid system of fiber-optic and wireless

equipment. The system will be primarily FTTH,

with wireless micronodes at points on the edges

of the service area where fiber is not a practical

option. The project will create or save four jobs.

EcliptixNet Broadband, Inc.

Northeast Washington Rural Broadband Access 

Network (NWRBAN)

Last Mile

$6,137,496 Loan

$14,320,824 Grant

EcliptixNet Broadband, Inc., will offer 4G highspeed broadband service through fixed and mobile

wireless connections to more than 90 percent of

the rural premises across the counties of Ferry,

Spokane, and Stevens. The network will make

services available to 27,363 households, 3,627

businesses, and 303 anchor institutions. The

project will create or save an estimated 236 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 75

Hood Canal Telephone Co., Inc.

Mason County Connect

Last Mile

$904,000 Loan

$2,712,000 Grant

Hood Canal Telephone Co., Inc., will expand

broadband service throughout rural Mason County

in western Washington. The area includes two tribal

reservations, the Skokomish and Squaxin tribes. The

company has partnered with the Squaxin Reservation

to extend service to residents living on tribal lands. 

In addition, the Catfish Lake, Dayton Trails, and

Pioneer areas of Mason County will receive funding

for broadband services. The project will establish

a redundant telecommunications route for Mason

County’s Emergency Management headquarters and

extend broadband, phone, and cable TV service to

an additional 51.8 miles in the county. The project

will deliver broadband through cable modems over

an HFC system. This project will make services

available to 700 permanent residents and 37

businesses, 132 seasonal residents, and 6 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 26 jobs.

McDaniel Telephone Company

McDaniel Telephone Company: Broadband Project to 

Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$1,192,951 Grant

McDaniel Telephone Company (McDaniel Tel), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will build a project to bring

high-speed broadband service to unserved premises

in its rural franchise service territory. McDaniel Tel is

the State-certified ILEC in Washington. The project

will serve six PFSAs that include two communities. 

These PFSAs have 596 premises (574 households

and 22 businesses) that have no access to broadband

service. The project will build a broadband network

to provide access to high-speed broadband service

(20 Mbps upstream and downstream combined). 

The network is engineered so that it can be easily

upgraded. The project will create or save 31 jobs.

Public Utility District No. 1 of Chelan County

Public Utility District No. 1 of Chelan County FTTX 

Rural Expansion

Last Mile

$24,963,089 Grant

Public Utility District No. 1 of Chelan County will

complete the fiber-based, high-speed broadband

system it operates in Washington State. The

expanded network will make services available to

6,811 predominantly rural residential customers in 13

PFSAs. Operating in a public-private partnership,

Public Utility District provides open-access wholesale

telecommunication service to 12 local retail service

providers over an FTTH standards-based fiberoptic PON. The network will offer speeds up to 100

Mbps to homes and small businesses, and up to 10

Gbps to education, healthcare, large businesses, and

government institutions. This project will create

or save 79 construction and 7 network jobs.

Public Utility District No. 1 of Okanogan County

Okanogan County PUD Last-Mile Project

Last Mile

$3,667,855 Loan

$5,501,782 Grant

Public Utility District No. 1 of Okanogan County

will expand its high-speed broadband service to an

additional 6,543 premises in Okanogan County. The

county is home to the largest Indian reservation in

Washington, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville

Reservation, which is concurrently undertaking a

broadband infrastructure project. The Public Utility

District’s network focuses on the premises along the

existing fiber route where high-speed broadband

service is unavailable. The project will make services

available to 5,401 households, 1,107 businesses, and

35 anchor institutions. The project will support highspeed broadband service to 35 anchor institutions. 

The core backbone will initially provide a singlethreaded connection to the Internet and function as

an aggregation and transport medium throughout

the county. The optical system will be upgraded to

account for the expected increase in consumption

using Ethernet transport and core IP switching

technologies. The network design calls for placement

of 170 access nodes along the existing fiber backbone

route and extending the fiber backbone 179 miles

to provide necessary redundancy to the last-mile

network. The project will create or save 28 jobs.
76 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

WEST VIRGINIA

Gateway Telecom, LLC

Gateway Telecom LLC West Virginia Last Mile Project

Last Mile Non-remote

$1,475,459 Loan

$1,417,597 Grant

Gateway Telecom, LLC will deploy wireless

last-mile broadband infrastructure to serve

residences and anchor institutions in unserved

rural areas of West Virginia. The network will

make services available to 1,095 households. 

The project will create or save four jobs.

Hardy Telecommunications, Inc.

Hardy OneNet Fiber to the Home Project

Last Mile

$9,494,483 Loan

$22,153,791 Grant

Hardy Telecommunications, Inc., will serve residents

in underserved, rural, mountain communities in

Hardy County. The company will deploy an FTTH

network to provide reliable ultra-high-speed Internet

access, VoIP, and video service to underserved

areas. The network will make services available to

5,595 households, 200 businesses, and 106 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 120 jobs.

Spruce Knob Seneca Rocks Telephone, Inc.

SKSRT Rural Broadband Project

Last Mile

$8,529,310 Grant

Spruce Knob Seneca Rocks Telephone, Inc., will

offer FTTP fiber-optic capacity, with associated

wireless capability, to provide last-mile broadband

service in Pendleton and Pocahontas counties. 

Fiber-optic cables will be placed on existing

power and telephone pole structures along the

main arteries and on existing laterals to reach

customers with broadband service speeds of up to

1 Gbps. The network will make services available

to 2,551 households, 207 businesses, and 23 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 125 jobs.

West Virginia PCS Alliance, LC

Rural Mobile Broadband Initiative - Maryland

Last Mile

$555,648 Grant

West Virginia PCS Alliance LC and NTELOS Licenses

Inc., both subsidiaries of NTELOS Holdings Corp.,

will expand West Virginia PCS Alliance’s existing

wireless service to provide 3G mobile broadband

service in unserved rural portions of western

Maryland and south-central Pennsylvania north of

Hagerstown. The PFSAs comprise 8 communities

with more than 50 percent of the premises lacking

high-speed broadband service. The project will

make services available to 13,104 households,

1,519 businesses, and 324 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save four jobs.

WISCONSIN

Badger Telecom, LLC

Badger Telecom, LLC: Broadband Project to Serve 

Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$4,080,773 Grant

Badger Telecom, LLC (Badger Tel), a subsidiary of

TDS Telecom, will provide high-speed broadband

service to unserved premises in its service territory. 

Badger Tel is the State-certified ILEC in Wisconsin. 

The project will serve five rural PFSAs that include six

communities. These PFSAs have 867 premises (816

households, 35 businesses, and 16 anchor institutions)

with no access to broadband service. The network

will deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology,

provide VDSL2 access devices that are packaged

in an FTTN configuration, upgrade access in the

central office to support extension of the broadband

networks to these remote areas, use PON FTTH

where economically feasible, and allow for future PON

upgrades without the need to rebuild the transport

routes. The project will create or save 107 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 77

Baldwin Telecom, Inc.

Town of Troy FTTP Network-BTI

Last Mile

$4,533,949 Loan

$4,533,949 Grant

Baldwin Telecom, Inc. (BTI) will provide FTTP service

to the Town of Troy, on the Wisconsin-Minnesota

border. BTI is working in partnership with the town

to bring high-speed data, voice, and video service

to this underserved and unserved market in western

Wisconsin. The project will make services available

to 1,538 households, 30 businesses, and 2 anchor

institutions. The network will provide many residents

with their first opportunity to obtain high-speed

Internet service and put in place the infrastructure

to support planned business development along the

Highway 35 corridor. The project will deploy an FTTP

network to make services available to every home

and business in the PFSA and will utilize Calix GPON

technology. The project will create or save 99 jobs.

Central State Telephone Company, LLC

Central State Telephone Company, LLC: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$3,855,976 Grant

Central State Telephone Company, Inc. (Central State

Tel), a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will deliver highspeed broadband service to 9 rural PFSAs that include

10 communities in Wisconsin. These PFSAs have

1,384 premises (1,295 households, 76 businesses, and

13 anchor institutions) with no access to broadband

service. Central State Tel is the State-certified ILEC

in Wisconsin. The network will deploy Ethernet-overcopper technology, provide VDSL2 access devices

packaged in an FTTN configuration, upgrade access

in the central office to support the extension of the

broadband networks to these remote areas, use

PON FTTH where economically feasible, and allow

for future PON upgrades without needing to rebuild

the transport routes. The network target speed is 20

Mbps (upstream and downstream combined) or more

DSL service. The project will create or save 101 jobs.

Chequamegon Communications Cooperative, Inc.

Chequamegon Fiber-to-the-Home

Last Mile

$15,549,091 Loan

$15,549,093 Grant

Chequamegon Communications Cooperative,

Inc. (CCC) will update its facilities to offer FTTH

in 3 PFSAs with 31 rural communities in northern

Wisconsin. CCC’s network will make services available

to 5,332 premises, providing high-speed Internet

access to 3,226 new customers, including several

anchor institutions. As part of CCC’s effort to bring

high-speed broadband service to this area, the

company partnered with the State of Wisconsin Office

of Administration on a funded round one project to

bring high-speed Internet to schools and libraries

in its area. The project will create or save 66 jobs.

EastCoast Telecom of Wisconsin, LLC

EastCoast Telecom of Wisconsin, LLC: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$1,669,255 Grant

EastCoast Telecom of Wisconsin, LLC (EastCoast

Tel), a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring highspeed broadband service to unserved premises. 

EastCoast Tel is the State-certified ILEC in

Wisconsin. The project will serve four rural PFSAs

in its franchise service territory. These PFSAs have

511 premises (478 households, 27 businesses, and

6 anchor institutions) in 5 communities with no

access to broadband service. The network will

deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology, provide

VDSL2 access devices that are packaged in an FTTN

configuration, upgrade access in the central office

to support extension of the broadband networks

to these remote areas, use PON FTTH where

economically feasible, and allow for future PON

upgrades without the need to rebuild the transport

routes. This project will build a broadband network

that will allow access to high-speed broadband

service (20 Mbps upstream and downstream

combined). The project will create or save 44 jobs.
78 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Farmers Telephone Company, LLC

The Farmers Telephone Company, LLC: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$1,440,570 Grant

Farmers Telephone Company, LLC (Farmers Tel), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed

broadband service to unserved premises. Farmers Tel

is the State-certified ILEC in Wisconsin. The project

will serve four rural PFSAs. These PFSAs include 6

communities and have 489 premises (456 households,

30 businesses, and 3 anchor institutions) that have

no access to broadband service. This project will

provide access to high-speed broadband service

(20 Mbps upstream and downstream combined). 

The network is also engineered so that it can be

easily upgraded at a reasonable cost to meet future

needs. The project will create or save 38 jobs.

Grantland Telecom, LLC

Grantland Telecom, LLC: Broadband Project to Serve 

Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$1,655,504 Grant

Grantland Telecom, LLC (Grantland Tel), a subsidiary

of TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed broadband

service to unserved premises. Grantland Tel is the

State-certified ILEC in Wisconsin. The project will

serve six rural PFSAs that include seven communities

in the franchise service territory. These PFSAs have

346 premises (332 households, 12 businesses, and

2 anchor institutions) with no access to broadband

service. The project will deploy Ethernet-overcopper technology, provide VDSL2 access devices

that are packaged in an FTTN configuration, upgrade

access in the central office to support the extension

of the broadband networks to these remote areas,

use PON FTTH where economically feasible, and

allow for future PON upgrades without the need

to rebuild the transport routes. The project will

provide access to high-speed broadband service

(20 Mbps upstream and downstream combined). 

The project will create or save 44 jobs. 

Marquette-Adams Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

Broadband Edge Out Marquette-Adams Telephone 

Cooperative

Last Mile

$6,202,326 Loan

$13,805,175 Grant

Marquette-Adams Telephone Cooperative, Inc.,

will extend fiber-optic service from the existing

telephone cooperative service area to surrounding

unserved rural areas in central Wisconsin. The

network will make services available to 4,488

households, 144 businesses, and 12 anchor institutions. 

The project will create or save three jobs.

Midway Telephone Company

Midway Telephone Company: Broadband Project to 

Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$4,680,738 Grant

Midway Telephone Company (Midway Tel), a

subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed

broadband service to unserved premises. Midway

Tel is the State-certified ILEC in Wisconsin. The

project will serve seven PFSAs that include seven

communities. These PFSAs have 1,201 premises

(1,129 households, 52 businesses, and 20 anchor

institutions) that have no access to broadband

service. This project will provide access to highspeed broadband service (20 Mbps upstream

and downstream combined). The network is

engineered so that it can be easily upgraded. 

The project will create or save 123 jobs.
Broadband Initiatives Program | Awards Report	 79

Reedsburg Utility Commission, Inc.

Reedsburg Utility Commission Fiber Network 

Expansion

Last Mile

$5,239,168 Grant

Reedsburg Utility Commission, Inc., will extend an

existing municipal FTTP network, operated by the

City of Reedsburg acting through the Reedsburg

Utility Commission, to the surrounding rural area

to provide affordable advanced broadband service

to residents and businesses that receive dial-up

service, wireless, and satellite services. This rural

area of southwestern Wisconsin has been well

documented as deficient in broadband service

due to the hilly terrain and numerous valleys

that severely limit wireless and satellite service

coverage. The network will make services available

to 2,438 households, 145 businesses, and 12 anchor

institutions. The project will create or save 45 jobs. 

Riverside Telecom, LLC

Riverside Telecom, LLC: Broadband Project to Serve 

Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$818,687 Grant

Riverside Telecom, LLC (Riverside Tel), a subsidiary of

TDS Telecom, will bring high-speed broadband service

to unserved premises. Riverside Tel is the Statecertified ILEC in Wisconsin. The project will serve

three rural PFSAs. These PFSAs have 2 communities

with 219 premises (208 households, 6 businesses, and

5 anchor institutions) with no access to broadband

service. The project will build a broadband network

to offer speeds of up to 20 Mbps upstream and

downstream combined or DSL service. The project

will deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology,

provide VDSL2 access devices that are packaged

in an FTTN configuration, upgrade access in the

central office to support the extension of broadband

networks to these remote areas, use PON FTTH

where economically feasible, and allow for future PON

upgrades without needing to rebuild the transport

routes. The project will create or save 22 jobs.

Scandinavia Telephone Company, LLC

Scandinavia Telephone Company, LLC: Broadband 

Project to Serve Rural Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$1,238,809 Grant

Scandinavia Telephone Company, LLC (Scandinavia

Tel), a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will bring highspeed broadband service to unserved premises in its

rural franchise territory. Scandinavia Tel is the Statecertified ILEC in Wisconsin. The project will serve two

rural PFSAs that include four communities. Within

the PFSAs, there are 462 premises (446 households,

11 businesses, and 5 anchor institutions) that have no

broadband service. The project will deploy Ethernetover-copper technology, provide VDSL2 access

devices that are packaged in an FTTN configuration,

upgrade access in the central office to support

the extension of the broadband networks to these

remote areas, use PON FTTH where economically

feasible, and allow for future PON upgrades without

having to rebuild the transport routes. The target

speed is 20 Mbps (upstream and downstream

combined). The project will create or save 33 jobs.

Southeast Telephone Co. of Wisconsin, LLC

Southeast Telephone Co. of Wisconsin, LLC: 

Broadband Project to Serve Rural Unserved 

Establishments

Last Mile

$947,555 Grant

Southeast Telephone Co., of Wisconsin, LLC

(Southeast Tel), a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will

provide high-speed broadband service to unserved

premises. Southeast Tel is the State-certified ILEC

in Wisconsin. The project will serve three PFSAs

with three communities in Southeast Tel’s service

territory. These PFSAs have 554 premises (534

households, 19 businesses, and 1 anchor institution)

with no access to broadband service. The network

will deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology to

its fullest potential, provide VDSL2 access devices

packaged in an FTTN configuration, upgrade access

in the central office to support the extension of the

broadband networks to these remote areas, use

PON FTTH where economically feasible, and allow

for future PON upgrades without needing to rebuild

the transport routes. The target speed is 20 Mbps

(upstream and downstream combined) or more DSL

service. The project will create or save 25 jobs.
80 Awards Report | Broadband Initiatives Program

Stockbridge & Sherwood Telephone Company, LLC

Stockbridge & Sherwood Telephone Company: 

Broadband Project to Serve Rural Unserved 

Establishments

Last Mile

$1,837,421 Grant

Stockbridge & Sherwood Telephone Company, LLC

(Stockbridge & Sherwood Tel), a subsidiary of TDS

Telecom, will provide high-speed broadband service

to unserved premises. Stockbridge & Sherwood Tel

is the State-certified ILEC in Wisconsin. The project

will serve four PFSAs that include six communities. 

These PFSAs have 629 premises (592 households,

32 businesses, and 5 anchor institutions) with no

access to broadband service. The network will

deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology to its

fullest potential, provide VDSL2 access devices

packaged in an FTTN configuration, upgrade access

in the central office to support the extension of the

broadband networks to these remote areas, use

PON FTTH where economically feasible, and allow

for future PON upgrades without needing to rebuild

the transport routes. The target speed is 20 Mbps

(upstream and downstream combined) or more DSL

service. This project will create or save 48 jobs.

UTELCO, LLC

UTELCO, LLC: Broadband Project to Serve Rural 

Unserved Establishments

Last Mile

$2,823,526 Grant

UTELCO, LLC, a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, will

provide high-speed broadband service to unserved

premises in its rural service territory. The project

will serve eight PFSAs that include six communities. 

These PFSAs have 844 premises (786 households,

50 businesses, and 8 anchor institutions) with

no access to broadband service. UTELCO is the

State-certified ILEC in Wisconsin. The network

will deploy Ethernet-over-copper technology to

its fullest potential, provide VDSL2 access devices

packaged in an FTTN configuration, upgrade access

in the central office to support the extension of the

broadband networks to these remote areas, use

PON FTTH where economically feasible, and allow

for future PON upgrades without needing to rebuild

the transport routes. The target speed is 20 Mbps

(upstream and downstream combined) or more DSL

service. This project will create or save 74 jobs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all of its programs and activities on

the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status,

parental status, religion, sexual orientation, political beliefs, genetic information, reprisal, or because all or

part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply

to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program

information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600

(voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of the Assistant

Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Stop 9410, Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call

toll-free at (866) 632-9992 (English) or (800) 877-8339 (TDD) or (866) 377-8642 (English Federal-relay) or

(800) 845-6136 (Spanish Federal-relay). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.