We’ll get started soon in California
We are excited to tell you that TDS will be receiving about $3.9 million in funding to improve high-speed Internet service in some of the most remote areas we serve in California.
“This is wonderful news,” announced Gail Long, manager, State Government Affairs at TDS. “It’s great for our customers, who will soon get access to a vastly improved Internet connection. It also demonstrates our ongoing commitment to invest in some of the most rural areas we serve.”
In February 2013, TDS submitted applications to the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for two California Advanced Services Fund Infrastructure (CASF) grants. Earlier this month, the PUC approved our grant applications to improve high-speed Internet services in:
• Southeast California: Winterhaven and surrounding areas of Imperial County including the Quechan Reservation.
• Northern California: Olinda and IGO, the western part of Anderson, and surrounding areas in Shasta County.
The grants will cover about 60 percent of the cost to improve services in the project areas. TDS will invest the remaining 40 percent. When the projects are complete, about 2,900 households will enjoy better service from TDS. You can read more about the project details in the news release.
We’re almost done in Cass County, Minnesota
We’re also making progress on many existing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus projects, including the one in Cass County, Minn. High-speed Internet is now available around Hackensack and Backus, Minn. and more residents and businesses will gain access in the next few months.
Construction on the stimulus-funded project should wrap up by the end of the year. When it’s finished, about 900 residents in Cass County will have access to a high-speed Internet connection. This includes customers living around Pequot Lakes, Pine River, Graf, Swanburg, and Oshawa. We will let customers know when the service is accessible.
And we’ve finished up in Indiana, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin
We’ve finished three ARRA projects in three different states. Now, more than 1,100 households in parts of Indiana, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin have access to high-speed Internet. In all of these areas, the grants covered 75 percent of the costs and TDS invested the remaining 25 percent. Here’s the breakdown:
• The project around Camden, Indiana made high-speed Internet accessible to about 300 households. We installed nearly 7 miles of fiber optic cable and invested $360,000 of our own funds to expand the project to additional homes.
• One hundred and thirty households around Salisbury, N.H. now have access to high-speed Internet. TDS invested $125,000 in this project.
• Nearly 700 households around Wind Lake and Waterford, Wisconsin—about 130 more than initially projected—now have high-speed Internet. TDS installed 13 miles of fiber optics and invested $315,000 in this project.
Note that nationwide, more than 95 percent of TDS customers already have access to high-speed Internet service. The federal ARRA stimulus funds, paired with TDS investments, are helping to deliver Internet to more than 20,000 customers.
If you’d like to read more about our stimulus projects, be sure to visit tdstelecom.com/stimulus.
