Agenda Item Name:
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Broadband Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) Capital Project Grant support letters
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Presenter:
Tommy Crosby, 352-337-6205
Description:
Letters of Support for grant applicants competing for DEO - Office of Broadband Capital Project grants that align with Alachua County's rural broadband deployment goals and parameters
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Recommended Action:
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Approve letters of supports and authorize Chair to sign and be included in application packages
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Prior Board Motions:
recommended action
Begin development of the Broadband deployment plan, and prepare United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ReConnect 4 application for Phase 1
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Fiscal Consideration:
fiscal consideration
The grant applicants will use grant awards and corporate funds for deployment. No direct financial impact to County
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Strategic Guide:
strategic guide
Infrastructure
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Background:
The Board has passed several motions to support and/or deploy rural broadband county-wide. The Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) and Local Technology Planning Team have continued align with DEO - Office of Broadband which has become the main funding mechanism for Federal pass-through grants.
While the current applicants will impact our ReConnect4 grant with the USDA, if awarded, staff will work with USDA to make necessary modifications. Also, the Capital Project awards to other entities will allow us to stay out of the Internet Service Provider (ISP) business for now, and not tap into our $15 million allocation.
AT&T Summary -
As a brief overview, our project will deliver AT&T's ultra-fast, reliable, 100% fiber-optic network capable of symmetrical speeds up to 5 Gbps and scalable to 10 Gbps to approximately 6,640 customer locations in south Alachua County. AT&T will utilize both subsidy funds upon award and our own funds to deliver AT&T Fiber to both unserved and underserved areas in Archer, Micanopy and Hawthorne and their ...
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