WASHINGTON — Broadband VI was the winning applicant for the Virgin Islands contract.
The company, founded in St. Croix, will receive $84.5 million of funding over the next decade toward the cost of providing service to 46,039 locations.
“Today’s announcement is a big win for residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, in a prepared statement. about the FCC Connect USVI award. “This funding will ensure that fast, resilient broadband networks reach all homes and businesses in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Our action today, coming on the heels of the successful conclusion of the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund’s Stage 2 Competitive Process, is another milestone in our ongoing work to close the digital divide and bring the benefits of a high-speed broadband connection to all Americans.”
The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau announced Monday that funding through the Connect USVI Fund Stage 2 Competitive Process will bring 1 gigabit per second fixed broadband service to all locations in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The winning applicant, Broadband VI was judged the winner after a process that weighted price, network performance, including speed, latency, and usage allowance, and network resiliency and redundancy.
Last week, the Bureau announced that all of Puerto Rico would have access to fixed voice and broadband service with speeds of at least 100 Mbps as a result of Stage 2 of Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund, with nearly one-third of locations to have access to fixed broadband at speeds of at least 1 Gbps. In the Connect USVI Fund, Broadband VI committed to offering 1 Gbps service to all eligible locations in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“Today’s announcement is a big win for residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “This funding will ensure that fast, resilient broadband networks reach all homes and businesses in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Our action today, coming on the heels of the successful conclusion of the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund’s Stage 2 Competitive Process, is another milestone in our ongoing work to close the digital divide and bring the benefits of a high-speed broadband connection to all Americans. I congratulate our staff for their hard work administering the competitive process for both the Connect USVI Fund and Uniendo a Puertro Rico Fund in a fair and rigorous manner.”
Winning applicants in the Connect USVI Fund and Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund will be able to receive funding after completing the Commission’s remaining steps for authorizing high-cost support.
SOURCE: FCC