Agencies

$46 million in private capital, Biden’s office said. A report by the president’s National Economic Council highlighted some of the winning projects, which aim to build last- and middle-mile infrastructure, connect community institutions and promote digital literacy and economic development. Two awards for middle-mile projects will go to public private-partnerships, the council said. One is a $39.7 million grant for a project in rural upstate New York by the ION company and the Development Authority of the North Country that will connect more than 100 anchor institutions and support connections to 250,000 households and 38,000 businesses, it said. Meanwhile, a partnership among service providers and the University of Maine got a $25.4 million grant to build three fiber rings across rural Maine. Middle-mile awards weren’t limited to partnerships. The administration gave a $33.5 million grant to the North Georgia Network Cooperative to build a 260-mile fiber ring in eight poor counties in the Appalachian region of North Carolina and northern Georgia. Meanwhile, The Consolidated Electric Cooperative will receive $2.4 million to build a 166-mile network in North Central Ohio, connecting 16 electric substations to support a smart grid effort, and allowing CEC to sell fiber to customers and last-mile providers. A last-mile grant for Rivada Sea Lion will bring low-cost broadband to 30,000 residents in 53 unserved, tribal communities in southwestern Alaska for the first time, the council said. The administration also gave a last-mile grant to Bretton Woods Telephone in New Hampshire for a fiber-to-the-home project that will connect 386 households, 19 businesses and six institutions with two-way, 20 Mbps broadband. The council highlighted a public computer center grant to the Arizona State Library Archives and Public Records, which will provide additional public computers to 84 libraries.