NTIA Allocates $320 Million for Rural Middle-Mile Open-Access Fiber Networks Across 8 States

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Administrator Alan Davidson announced on Monday the awarding of $320 million from the Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program to construct 3,800 route-miles of high-count, open-access subterranean fiber optic backbones across eight western and midwestern states.

The initiative resolves a core structural deficiency in rural American connectivity: while federal programs fund local neighborhood fiber drops, rural internet service providers (ISPs) and tribal utilities often face prohibitive multi-million dollar fees to connect local networks to distant tier-1 internet peering points.

Building Open-Access Digital Highways The $320 million federal award finances:

• 3,800 Miles of Armored Underground Fiber: Direct-bury high-strand single-mode fiber optic cables laid along state highway rights-of-way in Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, South Dakota, and Idaho.
• Neutral Carrier Colocation & Interconnection Vaults: Constructing 40 carrier-neutral Meet-Me-Rooms where local electric cooperatives, tribal telcos, and municipal broadband providers can interconnect at non-discriminatory wholesale rates.
• Redundant Resiliency Rings: Installing automated optical routing switches providing backup data paths to prevent total communication blackouts during severe weather or wildfire events.

"High-speed internet is no longer a luxury; it is a basic necessity for education, healthcare, small business growth, and modern agriculture," Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement. "By investing $320 million in open-access middle-mile fiber, we are closing the digital divide in our most remote rural and tribal communities, fostering competition, and lowering monthly internet prices for American families."

Tribal leaders, rural hospital networks, and independent broadband operators commended the awards, noting that open-access fiber reduces capital expenditures for local broadband deployments by up to 60%.