Rural Telcos in the Midwest Benefit from More ReConnect Grants

Randy Sukow

|

NRTC telco members made up three of four winners of ReConnect broadband construction grants the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced.  McDonough Telephone Cooperative in Illinois; Alpha Enterprises Limited (formerly Upper Peninsula Telephone) in Michigan, and Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative in Minnesota between them won $43 million out of $63 million announced in the latest tranche of ReConnect support.

The latest announcement is a continuation of distribution from the third round of the ReConnect program. Several NRTC members already have received news of grants, loans or loan/grant combinations through ReConnect, which has awarded $1.7 billion in total during Round 3, and $3.2 billion since the program began in 2019. USDA received applications for Round 4 in late 2022 to distribute an additional $1.15 billion.

All three NRTC member-led projects will extend fiber-to-the- premises networks to remote areas. According to USDA, McDonough Telephone Cooperative will receive an $18 million grant to connect “1,583 people, 274 farms and 41 businesses” to a fiber network. Alpha Enterprises will connect more than a thousand people in two counties through a $19.5 million grant, and Paul Bunyan will reach 3,529 people in three counties with a $10 million grant.

More Topics
+ See 96 More
More resources

Subscribe for more insights from NRTC