DES MOINES, Iowa – On Tuesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) announced the recipients of the State of Iowa Broadband Grants Program.
She signed a bill that set up the broadband grant program in late April and signed a funding bill in late May. The OCIO started taking applications on July 1.
Thirty-nine applicants have been awarded a total of $97,500,000 for broadband infrastructure as part of the latest Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Grant Program. OCIO received 178 applications from broadband providers for the Grant Program with requests nearing $300 million. Ace Telephone Association received the largest single award of $12,165,592.49. Alpine Communications LC received four grants totaling over $14.4 million.
Award announcements can be found in the document embedded below:
“Expanding broadband across our state continues to be a top priority,” Reynolds said in a released statement. “It is clear by the shear volume and scope of applications that the need is there. Today’s award announcement will go a long way toward meeting that need, and we won’t stop here.”
Due to the amount of interest, the State of Iowa will expedite a new grant opportunity utilizing ARPA federal funds to build upon the $100 million in state funding for this grant program. The Governor’s office said etails on this new grant opportunity will be released in the near future.
