Project Title:
Logan & Mingo Counties Fiber to the Premises Project
Funding Program:
Broadband Infrastructure Program
Project Purpose/Type:
The Logan & Mingo Counties Fiber to the Premises project is a last mile broadband deployment in Logan County, West Virginia and Mingo County, West Virginia that is designed to bring qualified broadband to 12,859 unserved households across the region. This application was submitted by the Logan County Commission who has entered into an eligible covered partnership with the Mingo County Commission and GigaBeam Networks, LLC to accomplish the project.
State(s):
Awardee:
Service Provider(s):
Project Service Area:
Rural areas within Logan and Mingo Counties
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$19,678,779.52Funding Amount$25,126,779.52Total Project Cost
Appalachian Electric Power (AEP) is investing $61.3 million in constructing over 400 miles of middle-mile fiber to modernize its grid for the electrical service AEP provides in Logan and Mingo Counties. With NTIA Broadband Infrastructure Program funds, GigaBeam intends to work with Logan and Mingo Counties to construct a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network utilizing this AEP middle-mile fiber and an additional 83 miles in fiber extensions that will establish highspeed broadband access for nearly 13,000 unserved locations in Logan and Mingo Counties. The proposed FTTP network will utilize XGS-PON (10 Gbps Symmetrical Passive Optical Network) technology to offer four speed tiers ranging from 100 Mbps symmetrical at $59 up to 1 Gbps symmetrical at $129. The project intends to directly connect 12,859 unserved households, 218 businesses and 195 community anchor institutions.
This project will provide high speed broadband access to 12,859 unserved residences, 218 unserved businesses, 16 unserved educational institutions, 32 unserved government buildings, 6 unserved health care facilities, 11 unserved utility sites, and 130 unserved churches in Logan and Mingo Counties. Highspeed broadband access will improve education and workforce development for the residents of these counties, spur growth in outdoor recreation and heritage tourism, and promote economic recovery from the impacts of coal closures and COVID-19.
Logan and Mingo County residents who have faced barriers to broadband access will benefit from this project. It will expand access to online education, job training, remote work opportunities, and telemedicine for residents who otherwise must travel long distances for college courses, job training, and medical treatment. It will also boost the tourism industry in the county, including the Hatfield-McCoy Trails. The project will support local farms and agricultural entrepreneurs, creating new direct-to-producer markets and agricultural tourism opportunities. Furthermore, the project will improve public safety as key emergency communications centers in the area currently lack reliable broadband access.
GigaBeam is the subrecipient of federal funding for this project and will receive the total amount of funds requested. GigaBeam will serve as the ISP in this project, assuming primary responsibility for engineering, constructing, installing, maintaining, and all ownership of the new FTTP system to the unserved premises in the project area. GigaBeam will construct the FTTP plant within the budget provided by the NTIA grant application, provide broadband service with a minimum of 100 Mbps symmetrical service to all unserved sites, and provide financial status and performance information to the Region 2 Planning & Development Council to meet the NTIA reporting requirements.