1640MM020

Purpose: The applicant's West Idaho - Canyon, Owyhee, and Ada County Project (the Project) will provide infrastructure to serve unserved and underserved areas. The route will facilitate an increase in available bandwidth for end users because the majority of the project area has little to no fiber-based middle mile infrastructure in place today. Communities in the project area are paying higher prices for substandard internet speeds on legacy facilities like copper and a patchwork of overlapping cable service in a few areas. The project will be the first purpose-built, dedicated fiber middle mile route to interconnect each of the communities on the route. Once complete, Syringa Networks intends to help facilitate the build-out of last-mile laterals to provide services to additional homes and businesses. This will be accomplished by Syringa Networks extending its own fiber facilities by offering interconnection points on a carrier-neutral basis to internet service providers to make last-mile connections to the network.

Activities to be performed: The project will use fiber to build a new/resilient middle mile network through unserved and underserved communities with a commitment to open access and carrier-neutral non-discriminatory interconnect. The period of performance is expected to be 2 years.

Expected outcomes: The applicant's deliverables and goals for the proposed network are providing:

1. A 76-mile route through eight rural cities to benefit more than 31,000 people in the communities of Notus, Parma, Wilder, Melba, and Bowmont in Canyon County, Homedale, Marsing, Givens Hot Springs, and Walters Ferry in Owyhee County, and Kuna in Ada County.
2. An increase in availability of bandwidth since most of the project area has little to no fiber-based middle mile infrastructure in place.
3. Open-access and non-discriminatory service offerings that will result in a lower middle mile cost for incumbent carriers and last-mile providers, which flow to savings for end-users.
4. The means to connect critical national infrastructure such as the power grid and communications towers to a modern high-capacity and resilient fiber network.
5. Internet equity and access, as well as jump-starting economic development in the area.

Intended beneficiaries: Beneficiaries of the proposed project are communities of Notus, Parma, Wilder, Homedale, Marsing, Givens Hot Springs, Walters Ferry, Melba, Bowmont, and Kuna that reside within Canyon County, Owyhee County, and Ada County in western Idaho. The focus of the proposed service area is rural, unserved, and underserved areas of Owyhee County and adjacent census blocks of Ada and Canyon Counties that are similarly situated. For example, Owyhee County has a population of 12,336 in an area of 7,668 square miles (about twice the area of Connecticut), indicating high rurality with a population per square mile of 1.6. Additionally, Owyhee County has a median household income of $48,601 (as compared to the US median income of $64,994). Furthermore, Census Bureau 2020 reports households with a broadband internet subscription percent for Owyhee County of 76.9% vs. 85.2% US broadband subscription. Overall, rural, low-wealth, low broadband adoption communities will benefit from the proposed project by establishing lower middle mile costs for incumbent carriers and last-mile providers, which will create savings for the end-users. Also, more than 330 anchor institutions and businesses within 1000 feet of the planned route will benefit because the infrastructure will connect to existing Syringa Networks nodes in Caldwell and Kuna, Idaho, providing ringed access to a 100Gbps resilient symmetrical, low latency network. Finally, Syringa Networks has a partnership with Idaho Power supporting numerous critical infrastructure sites under contract to connect the power grid to the internet.

Subrecipient activities: None.

Syringa Networks

TO EXPAND AND EXTEND MIDDLE MILE INFRASTRUCTURE TO REDUCE THE COST OF CONNECTING AREAS THAT ARE UNSERVED OR UNDERSERVED TO THE INTERNET BACKBONE.

11.033 - Middle Mile (Broadband) Grant Program

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) [DOC]

Boise, Idaho 83713-1573 United States

Single Zip Code

Middle Mile Grant Program (NTIA-MMG-2022)

Infrastructure $6,208,926 (100%) percent this Project Grant was funded by the 2021 Infrastructure Act.
Amendment Since initial award the End Date has been extended from 05/31/25 to 05/31/26 and the total obligations have decreased from $10,744,863 to $10,744,013.