6608I2208

Purpose: The Government of Guam Department of Administration: Guam Broadband Infrastructure Program Project is a middle mile and last mile broadband deployment in the territory of Guam that is designed to bring qualified broadband to 10,000 unserved households across the region. This application was submitted by the Government of Guam, which has entered into an eligible covered partnership with PTI Pacifica Inc. (IT&E) and Teleguam Holdings, LLC (Guam Telephone Company (GTA)) to accomplish the project.

Activities: This project consists of two parts:

1. Project 1: Guam Southern Ring Buried Fiber Optic Cable and 5G Project, led by IT&E, intends to construct 117 km (approx. 72.7 miles) of 144 strand buried fiber optic cable and 26 5G cell sites along the major routes in Southern Guam in a ring architecture. This will provide survivable broadband infrastructure and 5G broadband internet service to directly connect 186 currently unserved and underserved subscribers. The minimum speeds offered will be 25/5 Mbps at $80, and the maximum speeds will be 100/6 Mbps at $175. Additionally, these two interconnect rings will provide the population of over 39,000 residents and 10,000 households with survivable middle mile and drops.

2. Project 2: Broadband Infrastructure Program to Provide Low Latency to Guam Users, led by GTA, will acquire capacity to connect to Guam's closest transit hub located in the Equinix Datacenter TY2 in Tokyo. From there, it will connect to content providers, giving customers a round-trip time (RTT) of 40 ms. This project will deliver low latency service of approximately 40 ms to the entire territory of Guam, including all businesses, federal government sectors, and residents. Additionally, all current GTA customers will have access to the lower latency. GTA currently offers retail broadband service ranging from 25/3 Mbps at $40 to 100/10 Mbps at $100.

Outcomes:

Project 1: Guam Southern Ring Buried Fiber Optic Cable and 5G Project aims to improve service and provide access to Guam residents and those in the southern region of the island. With improved access to broadband, these residents will be able to obtain guidance and information on the COVID-19 pandemic, information on testing and vaccination, and information on access to benefits, job opportunities, and other information.

Project 2: Broadband Infrastructure Program to Provide Low Latency to Guam Users aims to deliver low latency service to GovGuam and to its customers to improve their access to live content needed for telehealth and educational programs, and provide access to more cloud content providers. This latency reduction will enable the entire community to experience vast improvement in critical access to telemedicine, remote work, improved access to remote education, increased access to the outside world via news and critical weather updates, and enable the local government to utilize cloud infrastructure and services to create an optimal environment for economic development.

Beneficiaries:

Part 1: Guam Southern Ring Buried Fiber Optic Cable and 5G Project will serve residents, businesses, and anchor institutions in Southern Guam. This part of Guam includes less than 25% of the population of Guam but encompasses over 50% of the land area. Over 39,000 residents and 10,000 households will be served by this project.

Project 2: Broadband Infrastructure Program to Provide Low Latency to Guam Users will initially benefit GovGuam and at least 63,000 broadband subscribers on the island who currently encounter latency of 112 to 158 ms for all traffic that routes off the remote island.

Subrecipients: The applicant does not list any members of the covered partnership as subrecipients of grant funds. IT&E is listed as the provider for Project 1 with a total cost of $11,438,659.07. For Project 2, GTA will receive $1,526,486.33 and will provide $169,542.83 in matching funds.

Government Of Guam- Department Of Administration

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]

Hagatna, Guam 96932-0884 United States

Single Zip Code

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

COVID-19 $12,770,692 (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 12/31/26.