The Buildout: Hawaii gets $115.5M for subsea middle mile and affordable broadband

Hawaii was the latest state to receive approval for its share of capital projects funds for broadband through the American Rescue Plan (ARPA). The US Treasury Department on Thursday announced that Hawaii will receive $115.5 million to support two state programs that will deliver connectivity of 100/100 Mbit/s or better to homes and businesses. $101.7 million will go toward the Hawaii Subsea Middle Mile Program "designed to address the unique subsea cable infrastructure that’s needed to provide connectivity between the islands." An additional $8 million will fund the Hawaii Public Housing Authority (HPHA) Connections Program to upgrade public housing facilities with broadband. This plan represents 100% of Hawaii's allocation of capital projects funds.

The Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) awarded over $20 million in Reach Me broadband line extension grants this week. That state grant funding will be matched with $13 million from providers. All told, this round of Reach Me grants will fund ten projects across 74 communities in 14 counties, connecting over 6,300 homes and businesses. Charter received the largest grant at $6.9 million. Other big winners include: UniTel ($3.3 million), Tidewater Telecom ($2.5 million), GoNetSpeed ($2.5 million) and TDS Telecommunications ($1.3 million). See the full list of Reach Me awards here. According to the MCA, "Reach Me Incentives will fund line extensions to locations that the MCA has determined are most likely to be cost-effectively served by the expansion of existing networks."

GoNetspeed announced it's constructing a $2 million fiber network in Kennebunk, Maine. The network will ultimately reach more than 2,000 homes and businesses. The company, which is expanding across the Northeast with support from Oak Hill Capital, also announced a $4.4 million investment in North Haven, Connecticut, to reach 4,700 locations with fiber broadband. Construction will begin this summer with the first customers to get connected as early as this fall.

Highline, which provides service in Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska and Texas, announced this week that an additional 900 homes have access to its fiber network in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The expansion follows the company's first installations in the region in 2021, said Highline in a press release.

TDS Telecommunications announced that it's marking its first expansion to Iowa County, Wisconsin, with new fiber networks in the regions of Dodgeville and Mineral Point. The Dodgeville construction has begun and Mineral Point work will start "in the coming weeks," said the company. Together, the projects will deliver broadband, TV and phone services to roughly 3,700 addresses. TDS is investing nearly $1 billion to build fiber across Wisconsin.

FastBridge Fiber – which launched in June 2022 with private equity funding from Guggenheim Investments – announced this week that it will build a fiber network in the Williamsport region of Pennsylvania, in Bloomsburg and Danville. Construction is set to start "in the coming weeks," said a press release. FastBridge expects to start connecting customers this summer. Last month, the service provider announced that it was expanding in Berks County, Pennsylvania, to pass an additional 13,000 homes and businesses.

WideOpenWest (WOW) announced this week that its fiber network construction is "well underway" in Mauldin, South Carolina. The company said it expects to deliver service to customers "in the coming months." WOW's work in South Carolina is part of its overall plan to build in new markets, with a goal of passing 400,000 new homes with fiber by 2027.

The NTIA this week awarded over $5.8 million to 12 tribes as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP). Thus far, the department has awarded over $1.76 billion to 147 Tribal entities through the $3 billion TBCP. The latest round of 12 awards will cover a mix of broadband infrastructure projects – including middle and last-mile fiber builds – as well as feasibility studies and broadband usage and adoption projects.

Northeast fiber provider Empire Access announced plans to expand further into Pennsylvania, to deliver service to Bloomsburg, Hazleton and Nanticoke. The company said in a press release that construction will be finished in fall 2023. Empire Access has support from Antin Infrastructure Partners and recently announced other fiber buildouts in Pennsylvania and New York.

Google Fiber announced it is targeting a fiber buildout in Pocatello, Idaho. This marks the provider's entry into the state. In a blog post, Google Fiber said it expects construction to begin by the end of 2023, with the first customers to come online in mid-2024. Existing ISPs in the region include Cable One, Lumen and Direct Communications.