Co-ops in Georgia and Ohio Win Federal Broadband Funds

Contact:
Tracy Warren, NRECA
703-907-5746
Mobile: 703-517-3411

ARLINGTON, VA, January 20, 2010 – Vice-President Joe Biden joined Gov. Sonny Purdue in December to announce the first round recipients of federal broadband funds, including awards for North Georgia Network Cooperative, Inc. and Consolidated Electric Cooperative in Ohio.

“Rural electric cooperatives understand that a robust communications infrastructure is vital to the sustainability of rural communities in 21st-century America,” said Glenn English, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the stimulus bill), $7.2 billion is available for broadband grant and loan programs, with $2.5 billion being appropriated to the Rural Utilities Service and $4.7 to the National Telecommunications & Information Administration. According to the Administration, the initial $2 billion for broadband programs announced last month will be available on a rolling basis over the next 75 days to bring high-speed Internet to communities that currently have little or no access to the technology. On January 15, a second round of funding was announced, with applications due to the agencies between February 15 and March 15, 2010.

“With a profound stake (both literal and figurative) in their communities, rural co-ops are eager to partner with the Department of Commerce and the Rural Utilities Service in building the middle and last mile of the communications highway,” English said.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has awarded North Georgia Network Cooperative, Inc. (broadband cooperative partly owned by Habersham Electric Membership Corp. and Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Membership Corp.) $33.5 million to deploy a 260-mile regional fiber-optic ring to deliver high speed broadband, reliably, affordably, and with abundant interconnection points for last mile service to an estimated 334,000 people in the North Georgia foothills. The network cooperative will provide an additional $8.8 million in matching funds.
The Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) has awarded North Central Ohio Rural Fiber Optic Network, a subsidiary of Consolidated Electric Cooperative, $1,034,413 grant funds and approved a loan for $1,399,499. The funds, including $1,225,000 in matching funds, will allow the co-op to build an open-connectivity fiber optic backbone to enable the co-op’s smart grid initiative and provide community broadband service.

The awards are designed to help unserved and underserved – and often hard-hit – communities overcome the distance and technology barrier by expanding broadband connectivity between educational institutions, enabling remote medical consultations and attracting new businesses – as well as the jobs that come with them.

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