AJO, Ariz., Oct. 31, 2024 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service Administrator Andy Berke highlighted a nearly $4 million investment in high-speed internet expansion to Table Top Telephone Company Inc. today while in Arizona. The Administrator pointed to this investment during a roundtable with Table Top executives, business leaders, and government officials. Administrator Berke also announced $63.8 million in awards through the Community Connect Program to provide high-speed internet in 12 states.
“The Biden-Harris Administration has given USDA unprecedented funding to provide high-speed internet to rural areas like here in Arizona that have been forgotten or left behind,” Administrator Berke said. “Rural Americans have enormous potential, but it’s very hard to reach your potential if you don’t have high-speed internet. We are completely committed to making sure every person in rural America has high-speed internet so they have new opportunities and a better chance to succeed.”
“This USDA Rural Development Re-Connect investment will support ongoing efforts to bring high-speed internet to communities throughout Arizona,” said Charlene Fernandez, USDA Rural Development State Director for Arizona. “The Biden-Harris Administration is delivering on its promise to connect America to affordable, reliable high-speed internet by 2030. The investments we’re making with Table Top serve as just one example of that commitment to support rural and remote community access to opportunities and to grow our economy where we live.”
USDA recently announced Table Top Telephone Company is receiving nearly $4 million through the ReConnect Program to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises hybrid fixed wireless network to provide high-speed internet to people in northern Yavapai County. In past years, Table Top Telephone Company received a $3.7 million ReConnect award to connect people in Apache County and the Navajo Nation to high-speed internet, and a $13.2 million Telecommunications Infrastructure Program loan to construct a fiber-to-the-home network in Ajo, Arizona.
Today Administrator Berke also announced USDA is awarding more than $63.8 million in grants under the Community Connect Program to build high-speed internet networks in rural areas in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Mississippi, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
From east-to-west, the 18 Community Connect awards will help bring high-speed internet to thousands of people in rural communities across the nation. For example, in the west, the City of Loveland, Colorado will construct a fiber-to-the-premises system that will reach more than 200 people in Larimer County, and more than 350 people in Caribou and Franklin Counties will finally have access to high-speed internet through Direct Communications Rockland Inc. In the Midwest, more than 1,500 people across four counties will be connected through systems put in place by CTC Telecom and Chibardun Telephone Cooperative. In the Northeast, approximately 600 people and 15 businesses in Waldo County, Maine will have access to high-speed internet infrastructure deployed by Unitel. And in the south, more than 1,700 residents in Evangeline Parish in Louisiana will be able to connect to a fiber-to-the-premises system deployed by Star Telephone Company.
View the full list of projects online.
Background: Community Connect Program
The Community Connect Program helps rural communities extend access where high-speed internet service is least likely to be commercially available, but where it can make a tremendous difference in the quality of life for rural people and businesses. The projects funded by these grants help rural residents tap into the enormous potential of the internet for jobs, education, healthcare, public safety and community development. Recipients of Community Connect awards use grant funds to equip community centers that provide free access to high-speed internet service to area residents for at least two years.
Background: ReConnect Program
The ReConnect Program is uniquely designed to fund the most difficult high-speed internet projects in the nation, which are in the most rural, remote and unserved communities. Many residents and businesses in rural areas would not have high-speed internet service without the ReConnect Program. The program is a key part of the Administration’s Internet for All initiative to connect everyone in America to high-speed internet by 2030.
Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, 2.4 million American homes and small businesses have been connected to high-speed internet for the first time, and the Department has invested more than $4 billion for 345 ReConnect projects that will bring high-speed internet access to more than 600,000 people in the most rural and remote areas of America.
USDA-RD provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and healthcare; and high-speed internet access in rural, Tribal and high-poverty areas. Visit the Rural Data Gateway to learn how and where these investments are impacting rural America. To subscribe to USDA-RD updates, visit the GovDelivery Subscriber Page.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.