Windstream adds S.C. to its latest broadband stimulus work order

Windstream's (Nasdaq: WIN) move to begin construction on its latest broadband stimulus project in South Carolina shows that the telco is accelerating its project completion schedule.

To date, the service provider has begun projects in six states, including Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, and South Carolina.  

Taking place in Lexington, S.C., the service provider's latest project will be able provide about 160 customers with at least 6 Mbps access speeds. To reach these goals, Windstream will upgrade its existing network in Lexington with fiber cable and related DSLAM equipment to deliver service. The project is set to be completed in mid-December with service available to customers in mid-January.

In South Carolina overall, Windstream won a $3 million grant that is being complemented with its own $1 million investment to upgrade five exchanges serving about 4,200 customers.

Out of the broadband stimulus winners, Windstream won $183.3 million--the largest amount of any of the service providers that applied for the grants. This amount is supplemented with $60 million of its own money, bringing the total to $241 million in broadband stimulus-related projects.  

While it has appeared initially that Windstream was focusing on small scale projects, the service provider said in a Telecompetitor article that there is a lot of work that it does not talk about publicly following the initial announcement of a broadband project in each of the states where it won a broadband stimulus grant.

For more:
- see the release
- Telecompetitor has this article

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Windstream begins work on Kentucky broadband stimulus project
Windstream breaks ground on its first broadband stimulus project in Mississippi
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