BUFFALO — Faster Internet is ahead for those in rural communities throughout New York. So says Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was in town Wednesday to make the announcement on sweeping progress towards that goal.
According to Cuomo, the New NY Broadband Program has made sweeping progress toward achieving its nation-leading goal of broadband for all. On the heels of its merger with Time Warner Cable, Charter has outlined its four-year rollout plan to service 145,000 currently unserved households in upstate New York. Additionally, Charter will make available internet speeds of 100 megabits per second for more than 2 million upstate homes and businesses by early 2017 in its upstate service area, including in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton and Albany.
The Governor also unveiled the New NY Broadband Program’s Round I awards, which will connect 34,000 homes to high-speed internet for the first time. Once completed, these actions will ensure 97 percent of New Yorkers have the broadband access required to succeed in a 21st century economy, with the goal of serving all New Yorkers by the end of 2018.
“Access to high-speed internet is critical to keeping pace with the rising demands of the modern economy,” Governor Cuomo said. “The New NY Broadband Program is advancing our vision for inclusive, interconnected communities that empower individuals, support small businesses, and advance innovation. These actions are a major step forward in creating the most robust broadband infrastructure network in the nation, and ensuring that reliable, high-speed internet is available to all New Yorkers.”
Building on the progress already achieved, the Governor also announced the launch of a Request for Proposals for Round II of the State Broadband Program. The initiative will target a further extension of broadband availability to the most remote areas of the state in order to bring increased connectivity to millions of New Yorkers.
The Program is designed to ensure that New York’s most remote communities receive the high-speed internet they need and deserve. The Program supports the deployment of advanced technologies to achieve the Governor’s goal of providing New Yorkers with access to internet download speeds of at least 100 Mbps in most places, and 25 Mbps in the most remote parts of the state, by the end of 2018. As a result of these speed upgrades, users will be able to download HD movies in 11 minutes — versus 2.3 hours without broadband — and credit card transactions will be processed five times faster.
Award recipients were selected through a “reverse-auction” methodology, which prioritizes bidders seeking the lowest amount of state investment per new household served. In order to avoid cost duplication, the Charter footprint was excluded from Round I. This exclusion enabled the New York State Broadband Program Office to operate with a highly targeted scope and design an innovative auction process across the state, while preserving state funds.
Round I Award Winners
Following the conclusion of the application period for Round I, a team of expert advisors assisted the BPO in its review of applications to ensure that projects aligned with the robust goals and expectations of the Program. As part of Round I, the BPO’s grants will drive $75.8 million of total investment for broadband deployment projects$54.2 million of which will be funded by the state, and $21.6 million of which will be funded by private investment. Consistent with the Program’s vision, more than 80 percent of Round I funding was awarded to projects addressing unserved areas through each Upstate REDC region.
When combined, nearly 18,000 miles of broadband infrastructure will be deployed. The awarded projects cover 18 upstate libraries and 96 community anchor institutions, including government buildings, healthcare facilities, institutions of higher education, K-12 schools, and public safety locations. The 25 awarded projects – addressing both unserved and underserved territories – span 27 counties, including sparsely populated areas in the Adirondacks and Catskills, ensuring that all New Yorkers are connected, regardless of population density.
Twenty four of the awarded projects will provide Fiber to the Home and cable DOCSIS technologies to unserved and underserved communities, with most customers being eligible to receive Gigabit systems on par with the most technologically advanced areas across the nation. Projects will provide service to over 30,000 homes that would have otherwise been left behind if not for the state’s investment in broadband infrastructure. Round I awards:
- Armstrong Telecommunications, Inc. – $3,930,189
- Armstrong Telephone Company – $1,778,256
- Citizens Telephone Company of Hammond, N.Y., Inc. – $3,316,810
- Empire Access – $3,396,374
- Frontier Communications – $3,339,543
- Germantown Telephone Company – $2,512,562
- Haefele TV Inc. – $271,568
- Hancock Telephone Company – $4,915,920
- Heart of the Catskills Communications – $1,224,946
- Margaretville Telephone Company – $4,791,505
- Mid-Hudson Data Corp – $1,009,339
- State Telephone Company, Inc. – $8,720,560
- TDS Telecom – $9,393,753
- The Middleburgh Telephone Company – $5,562,548
Round II Launch
Round II of the Program, which is launching today, will address additional unserved and underserved homes and businesses, including a portion of the areas that Verizon would have served through the Federal Communications Commission’s Connect America Fund (CAF). Round II Request for Proposal Guidelines and application questions are now available on the New York State BPO’s website.
Last year, Verizon opted to decline CAF funding, prompting the BPO and Department of Public Service to spearhead a movement urging the FCC to keep the original funding allocated to these territories in New York. The New York State Congressional Delegation soon followed suit and also advocated for the FCC to follow through with its initial proposal. In a meeting last month, the FCC responded to New York State’s concerns and accepted the request to, at minimum, confer with states in designing the national auction to best leverage funds. The BPO is now in the process of preparing additional feedback to seek alignment of the Program with CAF II funding.
The third and final phase of the New NY Broadband Program is scheduled to launch in early 2017, which will close out any remaining unaddressed service areas. Each RFP will contain refinements and enhancements that will enable the BPO to push further into unserved territory. Through the cumulative process of these three RFPs, the state is achieving its ultimate goal of broadband for all.
