Nearly $15 million of $60 million in awards through the Broadband Opportunity Program to expand broadband Internet access in Florida’s unserved communities will go to several areas in Southwest Florida.
These awards will support 22 projects in 19 Florida counties for broadband Internet expansion that will impact nearly 58,000 unserved residential, educational, agricultural, business and community locations. Including today’s awards, more than $226 million has been awarded to expand broadband Internet access across the state, helping to connect more than 250,000 homes and businesses.
Today’s awards follow the more than $144 million awarded in February and more than $22 million awarded in April, bringing Florida’s total investment to more than $226 million for the expansion of broadband Internet in Florida’s small and rural communities, impacting a total of more than 250,000 homes and businesses across the state.
Administered by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), the Broadband Opportunity Program funds the installation and deployment of broadband Internet infrastructure in unserved Florida communities, providing valuable access to telehealth, economic, educational, and workforce development opportunities to offer a brighter future for all Floridians.
The following SWFL projects will be awarded through the Broadband Opportunity Program:
- Southeast Arcadia ($4,997,588) — to add 13 miles of fiber optic cable to provide 497 unserved locations within DeSoto County with symmetrical download and upload speeds of 1 gigabyte per second (GB).
- Cities of Okeechobee and Sebring; Unincorporated Community of Lorida ($5,000,000) — to add 795 miles of fiber optic cable to provide 1,195 unserved locations within Highlands and Okeechobee Counties with symmetrical download and upload speeds of 1 GB.
- City of Labelle and Unincorporated Communities of Felda, Fort Denaud and Port Labelle ($4,916,800) — to add 261.2 square miles of fixed wireless coverage to provide 1,128 unserved locations within Hendry County with minimum download and upload speeds of 100/20 megabits per second (Mbps).
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