(Washington, D.C.) – On June 20, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced $11.78 million in funding to expand middle mile high-speed internet access in Point Roberts. The grant was awarded to the Whidbey Telephone Company through the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program. Funding was secured in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Senator Murray helped pass.
“A reliable internet connection is a necessity—not a luxury—and that is especially true in more remote communities in Washington state and throughout the country,” said Senator Murray. “Families and small businesses in Point Roberts rely on internet access for everything from running their businesses to participating in online classes to accessing health care. The federal dollars I fought to secure in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are going to make a real difference for communities like Point Roberts for years to come.”
The Point Roberts Middle Mile Infrastructure project will provide funding for the construction, improvement, and acquisition of middle mile infrastructure for Point Roberts and surrounding areas. The project includes 47.6 miles of new terrestrial underground fiber and 63.1 miles of undersea fiber. Middle mile internet infrastructure carries large amounts of data over long distances, increases capacity to local networks, boosts network resiliency, lowers the cost of bringing high-speed internet service to unconnected households, and helps connect unserved regions to the internet backbone.
A longtime advocate for expanding broadband access, Senator Murray worked to include $65 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to ensure that every family in America has access to reliable, high speed internet. Notably, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included Senator Murray’s Digital Equity Act to help close the digital divide by funding activities that provide individuals and communities with the skills and technologies necessary to take full advantage of internet connection.
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