By our count, cable MSOs requested at least $442M to fund more than 54 broadband-related stimulus projects
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 |
— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News
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