At a press conference Thursday, Governor Chris Sununu announced that $16 million of federal CARES Act money will go towards rural broadband projects throughout the state.
Sununu announced that the towns of Bristol, Danbury, Deering, Errol, Hillsborough, Mason, Springfield, Stoddard and Washington received nearly $6.5 million dollars to improve connectivity for about 3,000 properties.
Some contracts are still pending between towns and vendors, and those recipients will be announced once the contracts are finalized. Sununu says that in total, these projects will improve connectivity for nearly 5,500 properties across the state.
“There’s an expectation here of individuals coming in the state and that are in the state that it’s the 21st century, and connectivity is part of our utility base now and that has to be as reliable as turning the water faucet on,” Sununu said.
In June, Sununu had announced that $50 million dollars would be available for broadband projects around the state.
The projects focus on “the last mile” of internet connectivity, which is the internet hook-up to a property.
“There’s a lot of folks that have high speed broadband just a mile away from their home, but they never get it to their home, or to the public library or to the school,” Sununu said.
Because of the federal deadline for CARES Act money to be used, these projects have to be built before the end of the year.
Earlier this week, New Hampshire’s congressional delegation sent a letter to Congressional leaders asking for an extension to that deadline.
