NEW HAMPSHIRE AWARDED $44.5 MILLION TO EXPAND BROADBAND INTERNET STATEWIDE

(Washington, D.C.) - U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Representatives Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter today announced that Network New Hampshire Now has been awarded $44.5 million to expand broadband services throughout New Hampshire. Led by the University of New Hampshire, the initiative will build a high speed network to connect schools, hospitals, police stations, homes, and businesses. 

The delegation released a joint statement praising the funding: "We need to make affordable, high speed internet available in every community across New Hampshire so that businesses can grow and create jobs.  Network New Hampshire Now will create new opportunities for distance learning, health care delivery, and economic development, while connecting many homes and business to high speed internet for the first time.  This is a great day for our state."

Currently, New Hampshire ranks in the bottom tier of states in broadband capacity and capability, and compared to the country at large, New Hampshire residents, businesses, and institutions have access to lower broadband speeds that are less available and less affordable. This funding, made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will address these challenges. This funding will be used to build a high speed network, the New Hampshire Fiber Network, between population centers; connect homes to the network, including extending service to residents and businesses in the Monadnock region; and develop a Microwave Wireless Network so that first responders and public safety officials can more easily communicate.

This project is part of a nationwide investment in broadband infrastructure. The Recovery Act calls for a $7.2 billion investment in broadband infrastructure, which will help create jobs, spur economic opportunity, and open communities to information that would be otherwise unavailable.

For more information on this and other broadband programs, visit www.broadbandusa.gov.