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Press Release
Showing March 2010 archive. Back to index South Central Telephone Association, Madison Telephone, J.B.N. Telephone Companyto increase broadband access in central, south-central, northeast Kansas South Central Telephone Association, Inc. (Medicine Lodge), Madison Telephone, LLC (Madison), and J.B.N. Telephone Company, Inc. (Holton), have been awarded a combined $18,889,200 in federal Recovery Act funds for broadband Internet infrastructure projects in rural Kansas, officials announced today. South Central Telephone Association was awarded an $871,200 grant for the Lake City & Sun City Rural Fiber-to-the-House (FTTH) Project, which will provide FTTH broadband service to all unserved establishments in the exchanges of Lake and Sun City. South Central Telephone Association will match the award with $3,550,800 in private investment. Madison Telephone was awarded a $3,519,750 loan and $3,519,750 grant for the Madison-Lamont Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) Project, will provide FTTP last-mile broadband service to the telephone exchanges of Madison and Lamont. Madison Telephone will match the award with $763,634 in private investment. J.B.N. Telephone Company has been awarded a $5,489,250 loan and $5,489,250 grant for the West Cluster Plus Barnes Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) Project, which will provide FTTP broadband service throughout seven western exchanges and the Barnes exchange. J.B.N. Telephone Company will match the award with $3,697,619 in private investment. The three awards come from the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP), which is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service as part of the Recovery Act. The Recovery Act is also funding the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), which is administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications Information Administration. The Recovery Act has designated nearly $7.2 billion through BIP and BTOP for states to increase rural high-speed Internet access. BIP and BTOP awards are being announced on a rolling basis by the federal government. Today’s announcement brings the total number of Kansas companies to receive federal funding to four, with the four awardees combining for nearly $120 million in grants and loans. In addition, Colorado-based Level 3 EON and Oklahoma-based Totah Communications earlier this month were awarded a combined $9,510,865 in funds for projects in south-central and southeast Kansas, bringing the total value of awards to Kansas projects to more than $129.6 million. (See below.) The awards mark the latest successes for the Connect Kansas initiative, which was unveiled last year by the Kansas Department of Commerce to map the state’s existing high-speed Internet availability, create a strategy for broadband infrastructure improvements and help Kansas organizations apply for federal awards. For details on the Connect Kansas initiative, visit www.ConnectKansas.org.
Summary of BTOP and BIP awards for projects in Kansas
Rural Telephone Company
$101,201,649
BIP
January 27
Level 3 EON*
$998,400
BTOP
March 10
Totah Communications*
$8,512,465
BIP
March 10
South Central Telephone
$871,200
BIP
March 23
Madison Telephone
$7,039,500
BIP
March 23
J.B.N. Telephone Company
$10,978,500
BIP
March 23
TOTAL: $129,601,714
Asterisk (*) denotes non-Kansas companies.
Read more about the $18.9 million in awardsColorado-based Level 3 EON and Oklahoma-based Totah Communications have been awarded a combined $9,510,865 in federal Recovery Act funds for broadband Internet infrastructure improvements in south-central and southeast Kansas.
Level 3 EON was awarded $998,400 in federal funding for its proposed Expanding Broadband Access Across Kansas project, which will build four new access points on Level 3’s existing broadband network to enable last-mile providers to offer affordable high-speed services to underserved areas near Wichita and along the Kansas-Missouri border. The project could enhance broadband capabilities for as many as 50,000 households, 3,600 businesses and 150 community anchor institutions, including schools, government agencies and healthcare providers.
Totah Communications was awarded $8,512,465 in federal grants and loans for its proposed Totah Broadband Expansion Project, which will upgrade existing copper-fed DSL nodes to fiber-fed DSL nodes and install additional fiber-fed DSL nodes throughout northeastern Oklahoma and southeast Kansas. The project would mean 60 jobs saved and/or created and improved Internet access to 800 new customers.
The Level 3 EON award comes from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), which is administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications Information Administration as part of the Recovery Act. BTOP provides grants to various organizations ─ such as providers, nonprofits, government entities, educational institutions, libraries and hospitals ─ to fund broadband infrastructure, public computer centers and sustainable broadband adoption projects to expand the economy, create jobs and improve citizens’ access to education and healthcare services.
The Totah Communications award comes from the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP), which is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service as part of the Recovery Act. BIP makes loans and grants primarily to Internet service providers for rural broadband infrastructure projects.
“We’re excited that Level 3 EON and Totah Communications have been awarded this Recovery Act funding to expand high-speed Internet in Kansas,” said Kansas Secretary of Commerce Bill Thornton. “Through projects like this, we’ll continue to foster economic growth and sustainability in our rural communities while also increasing the overall quality-of-life for our rural citizens.”
The awards mark the latest successes for the Connect Kansas initiative, which was unveiled last year by the Kansas Department of Commerce to map the state’s existing Internet capabilities, create a strategy for broadband infrastructure improvements and help Kansas organizations apply for federal Recovery Act funding. Connect Kansas is funded by the Recovery Act, which has designated more than $7.2 billion for states to increase rural high-speed Internet access through the BTOP and BIP programs. Earlier this year, Kansas-based Rural Telephone Service Co. was awarded more than $101 million through the BIP program.
For details on the Connect Kansas initiative or to learn how organizations can apply for federal funds, visit www.ConnectKansas.org.
Company Profiles
Level 3 EON is a subsidiary of Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT), a Broomfield, Colo.-based Internet backbone carrier. Level 3 is a leading international provider of fiber-based communications services. Enterprise, content, wholesale and government customers rely on Level 3 to deliver services with an industry-leading combination of scalability and value over an end-to-end fiber network. Level 3 offers a portfolio of metro and long-haul services, including transport, data, Internet, content delivery and voice. The company also operates one of the largest Internet backbones in the world with 54,000 intercity and 27,000 metro route miles spanning more than 190 markets in 22 countries. For more information, contact Kimberly Greene at Kimberly.Greene@Level3.com
Totah Communications is a local communications provider in southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma offering telephone services, including long-distance, and high-speed Internet. Totah has approximately 3,000 voice service subscribers and more than 1,100 DSL subscribers in rural Oklahoma and Kansas. All of Totah’s service area is rural, sparsely populated with a population density of less than two people per square mile. For more information, contact Keith Watson at kewatson@totelcsi.com.
For details about Connect Kansas and broadband efforts in Kansas, contact Joe Monaco, Public Information Officer with the Kansas Department of Commerce, at (785) 296-3760 or jmonaco@kansascommerce.com.
View BTOP funding press release
Kansas Internet service providers, organizations encouraged to apply for Recovery Act funds
Updated county-level broadband coverage maps and Census block-level datasets are now available at http://www.connectkansas.org/ to assist Kansas service providers and organizations applying for Round 2 federal broadband infrastructure funds.The updated maps and datasets include new information from additional Kansas service providers and better represent nearly every region of Kansas. The maps are printer-friendly and include broadband coverage, cities and towns, county boundaries and detailed road information. The original maps and datasets were posted Feb. 16, the same day that the Round 2 application window opened. The second round closes March 15. A complete statewide interactive map for public consumption and utilization will be unveiled later this month. Background:
Internet service providers and other organizations in Kansas are encouraged to apply for the second round of federal Recovery Act funding for rural broadband Internet projects. Funding is available through two federal programs:Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP)
BIP makes loans and grants to Internet service providers for broadband infrastructure projects in rural areas. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service. There is $2.2 billion in BIP funding available.Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP)
BTOP provides grants to organizations such as non-profits, government entities, schools, libraries, hospitals and providers to fund broadband infrastructure, public computer centers and sustainable broadband adoption projects. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications Information Administration. There is $2.6 billion in BTOP funding available.The first round of federal funding ran from July through August 2009, and awards are currently being announced on a rolling basis. From that first round, Kansas provider Rural Telephone Service Co. in January was awarded more than $101 million in grants and loans through BIP for Internet infrastructure projects in rural Kansas. The Kansas Department of Commerce expects additional first-round Kansas applicants to receive awards in the coming months.In addition to providing grants and loans to service providers and organizations, the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications Information Administration has issued awards to states for broadband mapping and planning. In November 2009, Kansas was awarded $2 million to support Connect Kansas, the state’s mapping and planning initiative.For more information, visit http://www.connectkansas.org/ or contact Joe Monaco, Public Information Officer with the Kansas Department of Commerce, at (785) 296-3760 or jmonaco@kansascommerce.com.Download press release here.
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