• Qwest seeks stimulus money to expand broadband
AP Newswire
DENVER (AP) — Qwest is applying for $350 million in federal stimulus money to help extend high-speed Internet service to rural parts of the 14 states where it offers local phone service.
In its application, Denver-based Qwest Communications International Inc. proposes building facilities to serve more than 500,000 homes, schools, businesses with download speeds of 12 to 40 megabits per second.
It expects the deployment would cost $467 million. Qwest is seeking stimulus money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service for 75 percent of those costs.
The federal stimulus bill included $7.2 billion in funding for expanding broadband.
The Rural Utilities Service has indicated it plans to award grants by Sept. 30.
• Hawaii launches bid for fast Google Internet
AP Newswire
HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii is jumping into the fierce competition to win Google’s new experimental fiber-optic network that would deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than those currently available to most Americans.
Gov. Linda Lingle and the state’s four island counties announced Wednesday they will make a collaborative bid for the high-speed project.
Lingle says Hawaii would be the perfect place for Google to showcase the possibilities of fast Internet service to the state’s residents and nearly 7 million annual tourists.
The statewide partnership will hasten regulatory and permitting requirements for deploying Google’s network.
The company intends to announce the communities it will choose by the end of the year.
