Early this week, Iowa Gov., Kim Reynolds, and the Office of the Chief Information Officer announced the recipients of $97.5 million in broadband infrastructure grants. Three local providers are among those awarded the funds through the Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Grant Program, which received 179 applications from providers. These include: $609,539.79 to Farmers Mutual Cooperative Telephone Company for the Aspinwall Rural Area CARES project and another $50,601 for the Highway 59 and Highway 141 Intersection CARES project; $2,195,220.67 has been awarded to Manning Municipal Utilities for the Manning Rural and Highway 141 projects; and Breda Telephone Company (BTC), doing business as Western Iowa Networks, has received $15,073,573.81 for their FTTP construction project. “Expanding broadband across the state continues to be a top priority,” Reynolds says. “It is clear by the shear volume and scope of applications that the need is there. Today’s award announcement will go a long way toward meeting that need, and we won’t stop here.” Because of the overwhelming number of applications, the State of Iowa will be expediting a new grant program opportunity, utilizing ARPA federal funds to build upon the $100 million in state funding for the grant program. Details will be released in the near future.
