Connecticut is getting nearly $94 million in federal funds to create jobs linking unconnected schools, libraries and public-safety facilities to the information superhighway, authorities said Monday.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell said the $93.9 million federal grant, along with $23.5 million in matching state money, will add 5,000 miles of fiber network to extend broadband to nearly every corner of the state, making Internet access more widely available.
Connecticut received all of the funds it requested in its application last March to the U.S. Commerce Department, Rell’s office said.
“Our prosperity as a state is greatly enhanced by our capability to quickly and efficiently link commerce, education, public safety and other essential services to the ever-expanding Internet,” Rell said in a statement announcing the grant.
The state estimates more than 1,200 jobs will be created or saved.
Broadband will be extended to 83 schools, 29 libraries and two community colleges in Danielson and Winsted. Connecticut is one of 35 grants totaling $482.4 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to install or upgrade high-speed information technology and rural utilities in the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands, said Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.
The funding is part of a $7 billion nationwide investment in expanding broadband access.
“In a globalized 21st century economy, when you don’t have regular access to high-speed Internet, you don’t have access to all the educational, business and employment opportunities it provides,” Locke said. “These critical Recovery Act investments will create jobs and lay the groundwork for long-term sustainable economic growth in communities across America.”
