The development authority of the north country (danc) and national grid (NG) have proposed a public-private partnership project that extends middle-mile fiber optic infrastructure to bring broadband…

The Development Authority of the North Country was awarded a $24,450,000 project grant from the Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration under the Middle Mile (Broadband) Grant Program (CFDA 11.033). The grant will fund the construction of 344 miles of open access middle mile fiber optic infrastructure to expand broadband access to underserved and unserved communities in upstate New York. The project aims to provide broadband access to approximately 272 underserved and 10,335 unserved households, as well as connect over 1,500 anchor institutions such as schools, fire stations, and places of worship to the network. The Development Authority of the North Country intends to subaward funds to Northland Communications for design, construction, testing, turn-up and ongoing operations and maintenance of portions of the proposed network. The period of performance is July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2026.

Activities

Project will use fiber to build new middle mile network through unserved and underserved communities with a commitment to open access and carrier neutral non-discriminatory interconnect. The period of performance is expected to be 2 years.

Expected outcomes

The proposed project has the following goals and deliverables: 1. Build 344 miles of middle-mile infrastructure, which has potential to assist approximately 272 underserved and 10,335 unserved households within a 5-mile radius of the project. 2. Ensure broadband access to 250 anchor institutions within 1000 feet, more than 500 anchor institutions within 1 mile, and about 1500 anchor institutions within 5 miles of the PROJECT3. Add 9 new interconnection points placed in existing municipal locations to keep the cost of new interconnects down.

Intended beneficiaries

There is a need for high quality broadband in under- and unserved areas of the project area. In sept 2021, the office of the new york state (NYS) comptroller issued a report on broadband availability, access, and affordability. The report identified over 20,000 people without broadband in the north country and another 18,500 without broadband in the mohawk valley. Over 64.2% of the population living in the north country is considered rural, while 47.2% in the mohawk valley is considered rural. This report also noted that the north country had the highest share of households without broadband access in the state-19.3% compared to a low of 9.2% in long island. The report substantiates that the project area is rural, under/unserved, and of comparatively great need in contrast to other areas of the state. In addition to being rural and under/unserved, the project-area counties have higher than state average poverty rates. Several counties had poverty rates above the new york state rate in 2019 of 14.1%. Due to the high poverty rates, competitive, open access broadband is necessary in order to encourage accessible, affordable and high-speed broadband for a significant portion of the low-income population. The proposed network has 250 anchor institutions within 1,000 FT which includes electric substations (45), fire stations (35), places of worship (32), pharmacies (29), and schools (25). In addition, the project includes a diverse route for the ST. Regis mohawk tribe and redundancy for fort drum, an army installation. This project addresses critical needs in an underserved region. Using existing electrical distribution infrastructure, danc and NG can leverage the strengths of each organization and reach communities with state-of-the-art telecommunications services, bolster service to a national defense installation, and increase cybersecurity of critical infrastructure while also improving its reliability and resilience.

Subrecipient activities

The applicant intends to subaward funds to their project partner, northland communications, to design, build, test, turn-up, and perform operations and maintenance of part of the proposed network.