HARKIN ANNOUNCES OVER $6.6 MILLION TO EXPAND ACCESS TO BROADBAND INTERNET IN RURAL IOWA COMMUNITIES

http://harkin-press.enews.senate.gov/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100053131.540.32&gen=1

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today announced that a total of $6,651,830 will be coming to Iowa for projects to bring broadband internet access to businesses and residents in rural communities.  The grants and loans are being provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and were funded in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  Harkin worked to secure these funds through his role as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, which wrote the Recovery Act.

C-M-L Telephone Cooperative Association will receive a $1,519,225 grant and $1,519,225 loan.  Funding will provide services via a fiber optic network to rural communities with high speed internet exceeding 20 Mbps.  The Association is headquartered in the community of Meriden.  It is member owned and serves the communities of Cleghorn, Larrabee and Meriden in Cherokee County, and Archer in O'Brien County.  Along with these communities, it also serves approximately 225 square miles of rural Cherokee and O'Brien counties.