The Federal Communications Commission last week authorized over $1.3 million in funding over the next decade to expand broadband at Gigabit speeds to 1,203 unserved homes and businesses in Marshall County, part of the fourth wave of support from last year’s s successful Connect America Fund Phase II auction. The provider, Marshall County Fiber, will begin receiving funding later this month.
Nationwide, the FCC authorized over $121 million in funding over the next decade to expand broadband to 36,579 unserved rural homes and businesses in 16 states in today’s wave of funding.
“As we continue to authorize funds to expand broadband in rural America, I am excited to see the benefits for rural residents who live all across the country, from Tribal lands in Wyoming to mountain communities in Appalachia, from the Great Plains to the Pacific Northwest, and from the Texas Panhandle to northern Minnesota,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “In Marshall County, this round of funding is yet another step toward closing the digital divide, providing access to digital opportunity to over 1,200 more unserved rural homes and businesses.”
To date in Indiana, the FCC has authorized a total of $14.1 million to expand broadband to 12,979 rural homes and businesses. In today’s authorization, Marshall County Fiber is receiving $1,326,394 over the next 10 years to deploy service to 1,203 unserved homes and businesses, at speeds of at least 1 Gigabit per second downstream and 500 Megabits per second upstream.
The provider must build out to 40% of the assigned homes and businesses in the areas won in a state within three years. Build-out must increase by 20% in each subsequent year, until complete build-out is reached at the end of the sixth year.
The Connect America Fund Phase II auction last year allocated $1.488 billion nationwide in support to expand broadband to more than 700,000 unserved rural homes and small businesses over the next 10 years. It is part of a broader effort by the FCC to close the digital divide in rural America. On August 1, the FCC proposed taking its biggest single step to date toward closing the rural digital divide by establishing the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, which would direct up to $20.4 billion to expand broadband in unserved rural areas.
