Funding from the American Recovery and Investment Act has made its way through the National Telecommunication and Information Administration’s Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program (BTOP) to SDN Communications in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with application assistance from CHR Solutions.
SDN was awarded a the $20 million grant to deliver 10 Mbps service to community-anchor institutions, including schools, hospitals, libraries, and various government organizations, across SDN’s Internet backbone. SDN’s middle-mile infrastructure will consist of 359 route miles of fiber optic network to nearly 305 anchor institutions. The three-year project is scheduled to begin this year.
SDN CEO Mark Shlanta said CHR played a key role in SDN Communications’ application winning a grant in the first round. “The fact that SDN was first to be named in the top 1 percent of the applications speaks to the quality of work by CHR. They brought all the necessary resources to the table and participated as a team member rather than a third party vendor,” he said.
Funded at $4.7 billion, BTOP provides grants to support the deployment of broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas, to enhance broadband capacity at public computer centers, and to encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. Through this support, BTOP’s charter is also to advance the Recovery Act’s objectives to spur job creation and stimulate long-term economic growth and opportunity.
The NTIA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) released the first Notice of Funds Availability describing the availability of funds and application requirements for BTOP in July 2009.
