In a move that will connect more than 25,000 homes and businesses to high-speed broadband, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced more than $70 million in funding awards through ConnectALL’s Municipal Infrastructure Grant Program.
The ConnectALL initiative, established by Gov. Hochul in 2022, is a $1 billion investment to close the state’s digital divide, transform digital infrastructure, and ensure that all New Yorkers have access to reliable and affordable high-speed broadband internet service.
Projects receiving funding include multimillion-dollar commitments to transform public broadband infrastructure in the Central New York, Southern Tier, Finger Lakes, and North Country regions, offering symmetric service options – where the download and upload speeds are the same – at price points below local averages. In total, the projects will result in the construction of more than 800 miles of public broadband infrastructure and connect more than 25,000 homes and businesses.
“These awards mark the next step in our billion-dollar effort to close New York’s digital divide,” Governor Hochul said. “Thanks to our historic ConnectALL initiative and support from the Biden administration and New York’s congressional delegation, we are funding projects from Syracuse to Franklin County to strengthen our broadband infrastructure and bring affordable, reliable, high-speed internet to more than 25,000 New York families.”
Funding for the grant program comes from the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the American Rescue Plan’s Capital Projects Fund. The governor’s office noted that broadband infrastructure in the Municipal Infrastructure Program will be owned by a public entity or publicly controlled, and Internet Service Providers will use the new broadband infrastructure to provide New Yorkers with affordable, high-quality service options.
The Municipal Infrastructure Program was based on ConnectALL’s Municipal Infrastructure pilot projects. State leaders said the pilot projects “demonstrated the transformative benefit of publicly-owned, open access fiber optic networks.” A press release noted that open access networks can be used by multiple service providers, which results in greater consumer choice in underserved areas, and public ownership means broadband infrastructure is a basic utility available to all households in these communities.
ConnectALL will announce additional rounds of Municipal Infrastructure Program funding in the coming months.
