May 6, 2004 Washington, DC -- The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council announced its support of the announcement of $150 million in loans from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to fund rural broadband projects around the nation. Among the list of 14 approved projects are two FTTH deployments, proposed by Nex-Tech, Inc. of Kansas and Daktel Communications, LLC of North Dakota.
"These companies are bringing incredible service to their customers," said Mike DiMauro, president of the FTTH Council. "Rural Americans in Kansas and North Dakota will soon enjoy the most advanced communications network in the world."
The USDA announcement follows on the heels of President George W. Bush's support of broadband initiatives and fiber-to-the-home deregulation in a report released last week, entitled "A New Generation of American Innovation."
"We are very pleased that the federal government recognizes the value of FTTH technology," said Leonard Ray, vice president of the FTTH Council. "This shows that fiber is a winning architecture even in rural areas of the country. It will bring rural residents tremendous benefits through increased opportunities in business, education, health care and other areas."
Included in the USDA announcement was an additional $40 million in loans for traditional telephone service in rural communities.
The announcement by Agriculture Secretary Anne Veneman and list of loan recipients are available at: http://www.usda.gov/Newsroom/0180.04.html,/a> and http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rd/newsroom/2004/BBLoanRecipients.html.
The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council is a non-profit organization established in 2001 to educate the public on the opportunities and benefits of fiber-to-the-home solutions.