March 4, 2010

Level 3 Gets Several Stimulus Awards

In its latest announcement of grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) awarded Level 3 Communications $13.7 million in federal grant funding. Level 3 will commit an additional $4.2 million in matching funds for the expansion of rural broadband.

(For the original NTIA announcement, click here).

Level 3's nationwide network runs through many of the rural communities targeted for improved broadband across the United States. Level 3 will use the NTIA grant funding and its own capital to create dozens of new high-speed network access points or middle mile connections in rural areas across six states: California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Tennessee and Texas.

Each new access point on the Level 3 network will have the capabilities to provide local telephone, cable and wireless companies more efficient access to Internet, voice, data and video services with national and international reach.

Direct access to the Level 3 network offers a diverse and competitive alternative to incumbent carriers with a greater range of services and network redundancy – often a requirement for the expansion of local businesses.

(For more on a case study in which Mediacom connected a rural area to the big fiber backbone, click here).