(WTXL) — A group of rural communities in the Big Bend and northeast Florida were awarded funding via the state’s Broadband Opportunity Program to improve broadband internet access.
According to the Office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the city of Live Oak was awarded $5 million to add 821 miles of fiber optic cable to the existing network to provide 21,492 unserved locations within Suwannee County.
The city of Madison and the town of Lee were awarded $5 million to add 821 miles of fiber optic cable to the existing network to provide 21,492 unserved locations within Suwannee County.
The city of Madison and the town of Lee were awarded $5 million to add 759 miles of fiber optic cable to their existing network to provide 1,835 unserved locations within Madison County.
The city of Monticello along with unincorporated Lamont and Wacissa and the city of Perry were awarded $5 million to add 946 miles of fiber optic cable to their existing network to provide 2,528 unserved locations in the tri-county region of Jefferson, Taylor and Madison counties.
The investment will help those communities with symmetrical download and upload speeds of 1 gigabits (GB) per second.
Communities in Suwannee, Madison, Jefferson and Taylor counties combined were awarded $15 million during the second round of awards through the program.
“Investing in reliable internet infrastructure strengthens local economies and opens up new opportunities for students, businesses and families,” Gov. DeSantis said in a statement Monday.
The governor’s office said more than $22 million was awarded during the second round of awards from the program.
In February, communities in Suwannee, Hamilton and Gadsden counties were awarded funding during the first round of awards.
To date, the governor’s office said more than $144 million has been awarded to 58 projects in 41 counties statewide.
