The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau said 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, is eligible for $84.5 million over 10 years to provide the highest performance tier of 1 Gbps service to 46,039 locations. The selection followed a competitive process that weighed price, network performance, including speed, latency, and usage allowance, and network resiliency and redundancy.
The news comes on the heels last week 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, Inside Towers reported. Nearly one-third of locations will have access to fixed broadband at speeds of at least 1 Gbps, according to the Commission.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai called the USVI news “a big win” for residents of the islands. 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.
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