Washington State is moving ahead with the expansion of its Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet) middle mile network.
Set on delivering services to communities that don't currently have broadband access, NoaNet was made possible through $140 in two federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act grants.
Similar to other middle mile projects, including the recent network being initiated in Maryland, NoaNet's middle mile network is designed to extend broadband services to various community anchor institutions, including 170 communities and 2,000 schools hospitals, emergency responders, libraries, colleges and universities.
In addition, the new network expansion effort will serve as complementary foundation to enable other rural service providers to deliver their own broadband services to their businesses and residential customers.
"This broadband initiative will create immediate jobs during construction and attract economic investment to rural areas that have struggled from limited access to broadband," said Greg Marney, Chief Executive Officer of NoaNet.
NoaNet is not a stranger to the middle mile network race, however. Well before the middle mile network term emerged with the emergence of the Broadband Stimulus Program in 2009, NoaNet has operated its own 1,831 mile fiber-based network that provides wholesale optical services to 61 service providers providing broadband services to their respective customer base since 2001.
For more:
- see the release
Related articles:
New Maryland broadband network gets underway
Bridging the rural telco middle mile divide
EarthLink wraps up phase 1 of East Tenn. middle mile network project
Middle mile providers: Complementary, not competitive