A new high-speed internet project broke ground in Reno on Monday.
The project is funded by a $24 million grant from the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration according to a release by the NTIA.
Monday's groundbreaking was attended by Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information Alan Davidson, in addition to representatives from the Nevada Governor’s Office of Science, Innovation and Technology and executives from Internet service provider Zayo Group, which received the grant.
The grant is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All Initiative, the Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program is investing more than $980 million in building regional “middle mile” networks that connect to national Internet networks.
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.
“Internet access is no longer a luxury – it is a necessity,” Assistant Secretary Davidson said. “Today’s groundbreaking means the people of Nevada are one step closer to more affordable, more reliable high-speed Internet service."
With the grant, Zayo Group, which is the first Middle Mile program grant recipient to begin construction, will build a 645-mile fiber network through the Panther Valley and Reno communities in Nevada as well as rural parts of Oregon and northern California that currently have inadequate broadband service.
