The Buildout: South Dakota awards $32.5M in broadband grants

South Dakota on Thursday awarded $32.5 million through its ConnectSD grant program to nine applicants for 13 broadband infrastructure projects. According to a press release from the governor's office, the awardees will also provide matching funds for a total project cost of $47 million. This round of awards will connect 3,137 households, farms and businesses, adding coverage in the prairies of Stanley County. Award winners and total grant amounts were: Venture Vision ($8.6 million), Golden West Telecommunications Cooperative ($6.9 million), Leap Communications ($3.9 million), Long Lines Broadband ($1.2 million), Alliance Communications Cooperative ($5.1 million), Hanson Communications ($954,663), Midco ($3.2 million), SDN Communications ($34,320) and Gallatin Wireless ($2.2 million).

Point Broadband, a rural service provider in Alabama, has partnered with the Macon County Economic Development Authority (MCEDA), Rural LISC and the non-profit Connect Humanity to launch a new fiber network in Macon County, Alabama. The new network expands gigabit-speed access to nearly 1,400 additional Macon County homes, businesses and community institutions. As per FCC mapping data, just 58% of locations in Macon County can access broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbit/s. According to a press release, the partners worked to raise $3 million in blended capital (philanthropic grants and private investments) to finance the buildout. Further, Point Broadband entered into a "community benefits agreement" with the county whereby it must meet requirements "to ensure the network continues to provide quality, affordable service to residents, businesses, and community institutions along the project route," said the announcement. Back in February, Point Broadband announced it received a "significant investment" from private investment firm Berkshire Partners but financial terms were not disclosed.

Consolidated's Fidium Fiber will complete its expansion to the Southern Vermont Communications Union District (SoVT CUD) this fall, bringing broadband access to an additional 14,000 homes and businesses. With this buildout, Fidium will deliver fiber to more than 116,000 locations in Vermont by the end of 2023. According to Consolidated's Q1 earnings released this week, the company – which is working to build out fiber to 70% of its serviceable locations by mid-2026 – upgraded nearly 54,000 locations to fiber during the quarter.

Rural broadband provider TEC announced this week that it completed a fiber buildout in Covington County, Mississippi. The new project provides gigabit connectivity to more than 750 households and businesses. The buildout is part of the provider's commitment under the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), through which it was awarded $9 million to deliver its Fast Fiber broadband access to 23,000 locations across rural Mississippi.

TDS announced this week that it would begin construction on a network expansion project in Fox Crossing, Wisconsin. The network expansion will bring services to more than 4,500 homes and businesses. According to a press release, this build is part of TDS' expansion into other Fox Cities of Wisconsin.

Oklahoma's Cooperative Broadband Coalition (CBC) – a collective of ten distribution electric cooperatives with fiber subsidiaries statewide – announced on Monday that they've reached a milestone of connecting 100,000-plus customers in rural areas. In a press release, the CBC said the co-ops connect over 2,000 subscribers per month.

Spectrum this week announced that it launched services to more than 2,300 homes and businesses in and around St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. The network is part of the company's $5 billion buildout in unserved rural areas, including $1 billion through the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). Spectrum will deliver starting download speeds of 300 Mbit/s. According to current FCC mapping data, roughly 72% of the parish has access to speeds of 250/25 Mbit/s.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) tapped SA Connects to deliver a middle-mile broadband project. SA Connects is a joint venture between Southland Holdings and Aecon Group. SA Connects will be the construction manager/general contractor (CMGC) for the middle-mile fiber project. In a press release, the construction costs were cited at between $65 million to $80 million to install 210 miles of middle-mile broadband infrastructure and repeater hubs.

Harbor Peak Network Solutions broke ground on a middle-mile fiber project in Ashburn, Virginia. The project, dubbed Harbor Link, is expected to deliver seven miles of multi-duct fiber cable system to facilities throughout Ashburn's Data Center Alley, according to a press release. Ultimately, the network will enable lateral connections into data centers around the conduit system and interconnect with a Harbor Link conduit network along I-95. All told, the project will comprise 300 route miles between Ashburn, Virginia, through Washington, DC, to Baltimore, Maryland.

Last week, Chariton Valley – a communications provider in Missouri – announced that it completed a fiber project in the rural Palmyra region of Marion County. The $8 million project received $2.25 million in American Rescue Plan funds through the county and will see Chariton Valley construct 120 miles of fiber to deliver broadband to 732 residents, according to a press release. Separately, Chariton Valley built out 16 miles of fiber to serve another 154 homes beyond the Palmyra area.