IE 11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

Rural Iowa Broadband Access Gets Boost from Grants

The FCC's Connect America Fund is devoting more than $50 million towards increasing connectivity in the state.

(TNS) -- A federal infusion of $53.2 million in grants that four companies will use to build out high-speed broadband to nearly 90,000 unserved or underserved Iowa homes is an important step forward in allowing rural businesses and communities to compete, Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday.

Money provided via the Federal Communication Commission’s Connect America Fund (CAF) will enable CenturyLink, Windstream, Frontier and Consolidated Communications to expand broadband internet services across Iowa in areas where it was too expensive or not financially feasible for the companies to do on their own. The federal program was created in 2011 to foster growth in broadband access by transitioning funding that was supporting rural landline service to broadband service.

“In Iowa, technology and access to broadband Internet is the great equalizer for our rural communities,” Branstad told his weekly news conference. “We have put a focus on broadband Internet expansion because if our small businesses are to compete in a global economy, our schools are to have access to an abundance of online learning resources and our farmers are to connect their modern equipment for precision farming, we must connect every acre with broadband infrastructure.”

Thanks to the federal grant program, CenturyLink will be receiving nearly $17.9 million to build out broadband to 34,827 locations; Windstream will be receiving nearly $28.7 million to expand broadband to 44,930 homes and businesses; Frontier will be receiving $4.24 million to build out broadband to 5,438 locations; and Consolidated Communications will be receiving nearly $2.4 million to expand broadband to 3,019 customers. The companies plan to deliver broadband at speeds of at least 10 megabits per second (Mbps) for downloads and 1 Mbps uploads.

Branstad noted that lawmakers last session approved a new property tax credit that also will assist in an effort to make Iowa the “most-connected” state in the Midwest, but he conceded that keeping up with changing communications technology is a moving target. He likened the broadband expansion to efforts last century to bring electrical service to rural Iowa.

“We don’t want rural America to get left out of the changes that are taking place,” the governor said. “I think it shows a thoughtful, systematic, aggressive approach that we’re taking as a state to become the most-connected state in the Midwest. We have a long ways to go but we’re making dramatic steps forward.”

Phase I of the FCC’s Connect America plan has provided $438 million to expand broadband to nearly 1.7 million people in over 637,000 homes and businesses in 45 states and Puerto Rico. Over the next six years, the second phase of the plan will provide more than $10 billion to expand broadband-capable networks throughout rural America to communities that would otherwise be bypassed by the digital economy.

©2015 The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.