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New York’s Municipal Infrastructure Program (MIP) continues to provide grant funds to build municipal broadband networks across the state, as state broadband officials recently announced the program’s largest round of funding to date.
As we reported in June, the MIP program – specifically designed to fund municipally-owned networks as part of the Empire State’s $1 billion ConnectALL initiative – awarded $70 million to a half dozen projects earlier this summer.
Then, earlier this month, another $140 million in grant awards were announced for an additional six projects, promising to deliver “more than 1,200 miles of publicly-owned fiber optic infrastructure and wireless hubs, connecting (passing) over 60,000 homes and businesses with affordable, symmetric service – offering equal download and upload speeds at rates below regional averages.”
The funding will be used to expand broadband infrastructure (and seed competition) in the Central New York, Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, North Country, Mid-Hudson and Western New York regions.
In a prepared press statement, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul characterized the grants as “a transformative step forward in our mission to connect every New Yorker to affordable, high-speed Internet.”
“By investing over $140 million in public broadband infrastructure across six regions, we’re not just laying fiber optic cables – we’re building bridges to education, health care, economic opportunity and prosperity.”
With the latest round of MIP funding, the program has awarded nearly $215 million of its $228 million in available funding, the Governor’s office noted.
In making the announcement, Hochul also unveiled the state’s new interactive dashboard that allows users to track the progress of projects funded through the ConnectALL office, which is administering the state’s broadband grants.
Municipal Fiber and Wireless Networks From the Finger Lakes to North Country Region
The recipients of the latest round of MIP funding are:
The Broadband for Schoharie County Project in Mohawk Valley was awarded $30 million to deploy 298 miles of fiber that will pass 4,000 locations. The project encompasses “substantially all of the unserved locations in the county (reaching) the most rural and hard to reach areas of the county,” according to the announcement.
The county is partnering with MIDTEL, a New York-based independent ISP, to build and operate what will be an open-access network.
The plan includes construction of interconnection points at MIDTEL’s central office in Middleburgh and two additional aggregation points distributed across the county to lay the groundwork for other ISPs to use the network to offer retail service in the region.
The Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board was awarded $26 Million to build CNYNET, a regional open-access fiber network that once construction is complete will serve 6,671 locations across Cayuga and Cortland Counties.
That project comes on the heels of a 2021 Broadband Infrastructure Study, in which a survey found that 81 percent of Cayuga respondents said that having a choice in providers was either “very important” or “important.”
CNYNET will be established as a non profit local development corporation and will own and manage the network. However, Empire Access – a fiber provider in New York and Pennsylvania – will operate the network and also serve as a retail provider for residential service.
Franklin County in the North Country was awarded $13.1 Million to offer fiber and fixed wireless connectivity to unserved locations in the region. For this project, the county is partnering with Airosmith Development and LayerEight for the design, construction, and operation of 144 mile fiber network, as well as the installation of four poles to support wireless coverage.
According to the announcement, the county will own and operate one part of the new infrastructure with Hudson Valley Wireless, who will be the Internet service provider on one part of the region.
In another part of the region, near the St. Regis Mohawk territory, the county will transfer the infrastructure to the tribally-owned ISP Mohawk Networks. In total, the entire project will connect 1,567 locations, which includes 46 Community Anchor Institutions.
The City of Jamestown in Western New York was awarded $29.9 Million to partner with EntryPoint Networks and Quanta Telecommunication Services to build an open-access fiber network. When the network is complete, it will pass all 14,447 homes and businesses currently being served by the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities.
The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities will own and operate the network – with EntryPoint Networks providing the telecom equipment and software and Quanta managing network design and construction.
Orleans County in the Finger Lakes region was awarded $11 million to extend the county’s existing wireless network to enable it to serve more than 11,000 locations with 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) symmetrical service.
“This project will build on a successful wireless internet project the county launched in 2020 with RTO Wireless, by installing 14 wireless hubs on existing and new towers,” according to the Governor’s office.
The Medina, NY-based North Shore Networks will design, construct, and operate the network, though the County will own the finished network. And although this will be a wireless network, it will operate like an open access network in which access to the towers will be leased to ISPs who will provide retail service for subscribers spread out across a rural region with a low population density of about 103 people per square mile.
In addition to building the network, the county will also partner with the United Way to provide digital literacy training and embark on a community outreach initiative targeted at low-income households in the region.
Sullivan County in the Mid-Hudson region received $29.9 Million. For this project, Sullivan County is partnering with Archtop Fiber to deploy 253 miles of fiber that will pass 22,000 homes and businesses. As with the other projects, the county will own the infrastructure.
Archtop Fiber will serve as the fiber ISP in the region while Hudson Valley Wireless will leverage the 11 existing communications towers the county owns to provide wireless coverage in the rural mountainous parts of the region.
Rescue Plan Funds to the Rescue As BEAD Uncertainty Looms
Meanwhile, the state of New York is poised to receive $664.6 million in federal BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment) funds. However, given the outcome of the election – with GOP leaders pushing for major changes to the BEAD program, including Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst publicly calling for it to be scrapped altogether – the future of BEAD appears increasingly uncertain.
Fortunately, for community broadband advocates in New York, the source of its MIP grant funds comes primarily from federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars (via the Capital Projects Fund), which is already in state coffers and provides states with much more flexibility in how those funds are spent on broadband than the strings Congress attached to BEAD funded projects.
Hindsight is 20/20 but now it seems the decision of broadband offices in states like New York, California, Maine, and Vermont to use an earlier, less restrictive infusion of federal dollars to fund municipal broadband projects was down right prescient.
Header image of aerial fiber deployment in bucket truck courtesy of the ConnectALL website
Inline image of home installation courtesy of ConnectALL website
Inline image of Mohawk Networks truck courtesy of Sean Gonsalves
Inline image of wireless network tower courtesy of Sean Gonsalves
