2208I2201

Purpose:
The Acadiana Planning Commission, Inc: Acadiana Regional Public/Private Partnership for the Deployment of a Fiber to the Home Network in the Rural Underserved Areas of Acadiana project is a last mile broadband deployment in the Acadiana region of Louisiana. The project aims to bring qualified broadband to 22,560 unserved households across the region. This application was submitted by the Acadiana Planning Commission (APC), which is made up of the parish governments of Acadia Parish, LA, Evangeline Parish, LA, and St. Landry Parish, LA. The APC has entered into an eligible covered partnership with Allen's TV Cable Service, Inc., dba Allen's Communications and LUSFiber to accomplish the project.

Activities:
This covered partnership is proposing a coordinated Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) initiative that builds off the proposed partners' existing infrastructure to expand service to the highest number of households in adjacent unserved census blocks. The application prioritizes four main project goals:

1. Deploy high-speed Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) access to residents and businesses in eligible census blocks in northern Acadia Parish, Evangeline Parish, and St. Landry Parish.
2. Build a network that can provide 1 Gbps symmetric service with low latency at completion and that is easily scalable to meet bandwidth demands of up to 10 Gbps symmetric service over the next decade.
3. Provide an affordable pricing tier with a minimum service level of 30 Mbps symmetrical service at or below $60 per month for low-income households.
4. Deliver broadband service with 95% or more of all peak period measurements of network round-trip latency at or below 80 milliseconds.

Outcomes:
The project intends to directly connect 22,560 unserved households, 3,723 unserved businesses, and 46 unserved community anchor institutions with qualifying broadband service. Allen's Communications will provide broadband service of 30/30 Mbps to 940/940 Mbps to households in the proposed service area of St. Landry's Parish. LUSFiber will provide broadband service of 60/60 Mbps to 10/10 Gbps to households in the proposed service area of Acadia Parish and Evangeline Parish.

Beneficiaries:
The towns that will be served by this project are Evangeline, LA, Acadia Parish, LA, and St. Landry Parish, LA. This project will provide broadband service to 100% of the unserved households in the proposed service area.

Subrecipients:
Allen's Communications and LUSFiber are subrecipients of federal funds for this project. Allen's will provide fiber to the home to the south and western sections of St. Landry's Parish. LUSFiber will provide fiber to the home to northern Acadia Parish and Evangeline Parish.

Acadiana Planning Commission

TO PROVIDE NEW FEDERAL FUNDING FOR THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY TO MAKE GRANTS ON A COMPETITIVE BASIS FOR THE DEPLOYMENT OF BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE.

11.031 - Broadband Infrastructure Program

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

Lafayette, Louisiana 70501-7007 United States

Single Zip Code

BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM (NTIA-BROADBAND-INFRASTRUCTURE-PROGRAM-21)

COVID-19 $29,940,612 (100%) percent of this Project Grant was funded by COVID-19 emergency acts including the CARES Act.
Amendment Since initial award the End Date has been extended from 02/28/23 to 02/28/26.