Frontier Communications, a provider of broadband, voice, satellite video, wireless Internet data access services, will tap universal service funding of $71.9 million from the FCC to accelerate deployment of broadband services to rural America, the company announced this week.
The funds, made available by the FCC from the Connect America Fund (CAF), will be used to deploy and enhance broadband connectivity in underserved and unserved areas, the company said.
"For the first time, universal service funding will be targeted to unserved homes, businesses, and anchor institutions in rural areas, and companies will be held accountable for building out infrastructure," said FCC chairman Julius Genachowski.
"Today's announcement by Frontier Communications represents the beginning of that new deployment: Approximately 200,000 unserved rural Americans will get broadband for the first time."
The FCC established CAF to accelerate broadband build-out to the 18 million Americans living in rural areas who currently have no broadband access.
In accepting the funds, Frontier pledged to provide broadband service to 92,876 households in Michigan, Oregon, Washington, West Virginia and elsewhere currently without broadband connectivity.
Kathleen Quinn Abernathy, executive VP for External Affairs, said the CAF funds will supplement the more than $1.5 billion of private investment Frontier has made over the past couple of years to deploy an advanced communications network in rural America.