By our count, cable MSOs requested at least $442M to fund more than 54 broadband-related stimulus projects

Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor

September 11, 2009

10 Min Read
Recovery Act: Cable Bids for Broadband Funds

Dozens of small- and mid-sized cable MSOs have placed bids for at least 54 proposed broadband projects linked to the first round of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

In the first round, at least $442 million is being sought for cable MSO projects, according to data culled (so far) by Cable Digital News from a searchable database the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) posted at BroadbandUSA.gov earlier this week. A comprehensive list of broadband stimulus fund applications for the first round is available here.

A total of nearly $28 billion in bids for broadband stimulus funds were placed in the first round (a total of $7.2 billion is to be awarded over three rounds). (See Recovery Act: Round One Brings 'Nearly $28B' in Bids.)

As expected, major MSOs such as Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) have decided to stay on the sidelines. However, WaveDivision Holdings, a mid-sized MSO, placed at least 12 individual bids for last-mile projects totaling more than $10.3 million.

Below is a list of the cable-related bids we uncovered from our first pass. Considering more than 2,200 applications are already in, this is likely far from exhaustive, as there are likely many more for us to find. We'll update the list as we come across others.

Table 1: Cable bids

Company/Group

Amount (Grant request)

Project

Areas

Program

Allens TV Cable Service

$3,513,697

Extend an FTTx network from existing fiber/cable plant into rural areas of three South Louisiana Parishes.

South Louisiana

BIP/BTOP

Argent Communications

$986,473

Upgrade coax cable plant to fiber-to-the-home for 1,800 homes. in Milan, Stratford, Stark, and Dummer.

New Hampshire

BIP/BTOP

Aztech Cable

$4,891,582

Last mile connections using 802.11n and WiMax.

Mohave Valley, Ariz.

BIP/BTOP

Bend Cable Communications

$4,125,744

Deliver wireless broadband services over licensed spectrum to underserved, low density areas in rural Central Oregon.

Central Oregon

BIP/BTOP

Boycom Cablevision

$40,894,912

600-mile middle mile network along U.S. Highway 60 corridor from Charleston to Springfield, serving 231,311 households.

Southern Missouri

BIP/BTOP

Bulldog Cable Georgia

$2,475,012

Upgrade and expand existing cable plant in Lake Sinclair area of Georgia to offer advanced broadband services to more than 7,300 homes.

Georgia

BIP

Cable Montana

$1,514,640

Build out regional middle mile Gigabit Ethernet backbone.

South Central Montana

BIP

Cable Nebraska

$693,087

Build out regional Gigabit Ethernet backbone.

Central Nebraska

BIP/BTOP

Cable Plus

$2,055,486

Last mile project to bring broadband to rural, remote, unserved communities in the Central Appalachian Mountains coalfields region.

Southwest Virginia

BIP/BTOP

Calneva Broadband

$280,000

Expand existing cable footprint with fiber connected to unincorporated Mohave County.

Arizona

BIP/BTOP

Central Valley Cable TV

$695,940

Expand existing broadband coverage area to include Point Arena, two Indian Rancherias, the and unincorporated area of Manchester.

Mendocino County, Calif.

BIP/BTOP

Clark Cablevision

$5,642,974

Last mile network to serve more than 8,311 unserved homes with 4 Mbit/s service.

Pahrump, Nev.

BTOP

Bresnan Communications

$70,007,425

Develop statewide middle mile fiber optic network.

Blackfeet, Crow, Flathead-Salish & Kootenai, Ft. Peck, Ft. Belknap, N. Cheyenne & Rocky Boys reservations & unserved & underserved communities through Montana

BIP/BTOP

Bulldog Cable Georgia

$2,291,295

Upgrade and expand cable plant to reach more than 4,200 homes.

Lake Jackson area of Georgia

BIP

Bulldog Cable Georgia

$1,451,377

Upgrade and expand cable plant to reach 2,270 underserved/unserved homes.

Montana (Big Sky area)

BIP

Cherokee Cablevision

$2,685,600

Upgrade existing cable plant to all-fiber to provide broadband access to Cherokee Indian Reservation.

Cherokee, N.C.

BIP

Eastern Cable

$3,751,704

Last mile cable broadband to a 26-square mile rural, unserved area.

Knox County, Ky.

BIP

Flint Cable TV

$4,095,913

Last mile connection to deliver broadband and cable TV services.

Rural middle Georgia

BIP/BTOP

Hawkeye Telephone Company

$1,623,608

Replace deteriorating copper cable plant with fiber-based system capable of up to 100 Mbit/s.

Hawkeye, Iowa

BIP/BTOP

Home Town Cable TV

$32,796,948

Construct middle mile fiber network.

Central southern Florida

BTOP

Hometown Cable Company

$2,267,380

Fixed and mobile (WiFi) broadband Internet to Darke and Preble Counties.

Ohio

BIP

ICE Cable Holdings

$392,516

Last mile broadband access for rural, underserved Delta County.

Colorado

BIP

Jackson County Cable

$2,200,000

Bring broadband to a rural and underserved area of Jackson County.

Georgia

BIP

JetBroadband

$2,842,164

Upgrade existing cable network.

West Virginia

BIP/BTOP

Kodiak-Kenai Cable Company

$172,301,031

Middle mile: Bring broadband connectivity to western Alaska via a submarine fiber optic cable network.

140 remote Alaska communities

BIP/BTOP

Lakeview Cable TV

$3,052,380

Middle mile project interconnecting four "budget challenged school districts," and the unserved community of Indiahoma.

Southwest Oklahoma

BTOP

Nelson Cable

$361,066

Deliver 2 Mbit/s wireless service using WiMax.

Rockfish Valley, Va.

BIP

NPG Cable

$222,350

Extend cable plant 4.2 miles to unserved rural community.

St. Joseph, Mo.

BIP

NPG Cable

$2,183,664

Last mile: Use RF over Glass (RFoG) architecture to deliver broadband service.

Run RFoG from St. Joseph to Grayson, Mo.

BIP/BTOP

NPG Cable

$423,375

Extend cable plant 17.5 miles to underserved rural community.

Pine/Strawberry, Ariz.

BIP/BTOP

NPG Cable

$977,047

Extend cable plant 19.2 miles to rural, underserved community.

Munds Park, Ariz.

BIP/BTOP

Plantation Cablevision

$274,318

Deliver broadband service to two small, rural and currently underserved communities.

Georgia

BIP/BTOP

Ponderosa Cablevision

$1,926,431

Extend broadband services via last mile technologies in non-remote area.

O Neals, Calif.

BIP/BTOP

Shellsburg Cablevision

$1,459,133

Provide advanced services via fiber (including Internet service that exceeds 20 Mbit/s) to communities of Coggon and Ryan.

Iowa

BIP

Supervision

$110,066

Upgrade cable modem system serving Whittier, Alaska.

Alaska

BIP/BTOP

Supervision

$174,680

Update cable modem system in Tanana, Alaska.

Alaska

BIP/BTOP

Tel-Star Cablevision

$55,200

Enhance computer centers located at the Eureka Public Library, and Illinois District 140 Schools.

Metamora, Ill.

BTOP

Tel-Star Cablevision (with schools and other partners)

$2,926,026

Provide broadband access to non-remote, rural areas.

Illinois

BIP/BTOP

Troy Cablevision

$34,968,646

Broadband network to serve 16,500 "energy consumers" in four unserved/underserved rural counties.

Alabama

BIP/BTOP

US Cable of Northern New Mexico

$5,038,000

Last mile "fiber rich" project to reach underserved and "vulnerable" populations of Espanola, Dixon, Penaso, and the Native American Pueblos of Picuris, Ohkay Owingeh, and Santa Clara.

New Mexico

BIP/BTOP

Viking Broadband

$4,875,000

Roll out fiber to rural area east of Billings.

Billings, Mont.

BIP/BTOP

WaveDivision Holdings

$1,813,498

Extend existing distribution facilities to offer five levels of residential broadband services ranging to speeds of 18 Mbit/s down and 2 Mbit/s up, and five levels of business broadband services ranging up to 100 Mbp/s symmetrical.

Colfax, Placer County, Calif.

BIP/BTOP

WaveDivision Holdings

$689,627

Similar in nature to company's first listing.

Sheridan, Placer County, Calif.

BIP/BTOP

WaveDivision Holdings

$1,040,062

Similar in nature to company's first listing.

Knights Landing, Yolo County, Calif.

BIP/BTOP

Wave Division Holdings

$3,044,233

Similar in nature to company's first listing.

Clackamas and Marion Counties, Ore.

BIP/BTOP

Wave Division Holdings

$730,284

Similar in nature to company's first listing.

Tiger Lake, Mason County, Wash.

BIP/BTOP

Wave Division Holdings

$395,419

Similar in nature to company's first listing.

Panther Lake, Mason County, Wash.

BIP/BTOP

Wave Division Holdings

$797,283

Similar in nature to company's first listing.

Glenhave Lakes, Whatcom County, Wash.

BIP/BTOP

Wave Division Holdings

$163.305

Similar in nature to company's first listing.

Eascrett Circle, Wash.

BIP/BTOP

Wave Division Holdings

$351,596

Similar in nature to company's first listing.

Breezy Point, Wash.

BIP/BTOP

Wave Division Holdings

$634,645

Similar in nature to company's first listing.

Mission Lake, Wash.

BIP/BTOP

Wave Division Holdings

$361,069

Similar in nature to company's first listing.

McFarland Farms, Wash.

BIP/BTOP

Wave Division Holdings

$521,180

Similar in nature to company's first listing.

Lower Elwha Reservation, Wash.

BIP/BTOP

Wilco Electronic Systems

$4,730,860

Private cable op intends to deploy fiber to area's underserved, "low-income public housing residents."

Philadelphia, Pa.

BTOP

World Cable

$800,000

Public computer center.

Bayside, N.Y.

BTOP

Source: www.broadbandusa.gov database
BIP: Broadband Initiatives Program
BTOP: Broadband Technology Opportunities Program





— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News



About the Author(s)

Jeff Baumgartner

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X and LinkedIn.

Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers.

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