Gov. Ron DeSantis stops in Milton to announce $144M in rural Florida broadband funding

Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal
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Gov. Ron DeSantis announced $144 million in grant awards for rural broadband projects across the state of Florida and made a stop in Milton to personally hand the check for a $2.3 million award for Santa Rosa County officials.

The $2.3 million award was the first of 58 projects in 41 counties that DeSantis and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity announced that won grants first round of funding the state's rural broadband program.

"This will benefit many, many under and unserved homes and businesses all throughout the state of Florida," DeSantis said, speaking to a crowd of supporters gathered at the Imogene Theatre in downtown Milton.

The $2.3 million award will go to Santa Rosa County and Charter Communications to build a fiber network that will connect up to 791 homes, DeSantis said.

The grant will fund the construction of 103.7 miles of new fiber optic cable in Jay, Berrydale, Cobbtown other areas of north Santa Rosa County that will provide residents with download speeds of 300 megabits per second and 10 Mbps uploads.

Included in the $144 million in grants announced Thursday was a $802,489 project for Escambia County to deploy 24.8 miles of new fiber optic cable that will provide the same speeds to 206 unserved locations.

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The $144 million is the first part of the $400 million the state plans to award for rural broadband projects with federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.

DeSantis did not mention the source of the funds until asked by a reporter but said the state is also committed to putting forward its own money as well.

DeSantis said the funds would help a lot of businesses and individuals access high-speed internet for the first time.

"It's not actually just rural — it's largely that — but there's very populated counties that also have gaps," DeSantis said. "It's making sure we're expanding access for broadband to make sure that all communities have access to high-speed internet to support the way our society functions."

DeSantis said while he supported improving broadband access, there is a downside to internet access.

"Now I must confess, even though we're doing this, and we understand it's important for modern society, just as a father of a 6-, a 4- and a 2-year-old, we don't want them mired on the internet or on these computers," DeSantis said.

DeSantis said he believes there's been a lot of negative impact from social media on young people, and he worries about what will happen in the future.

"It's not the best thought sometimes because I think social media and a lot of that, there's been a lot of negative impact on our youth," DeSantis said. "I think that's just the bottom line."

During his remarks, DeSantis also touted a new series of sales tax breaks he was proposing as part of the upcoming budget that he announced on Wednesday.

Joining DeSantis at the announcement was Marva Johnson, group vice president at Charter Communications.

"It's an incredible honor for her to be partnering with Santa Rosa County to receive the first infrastructure investment to make sure that we're connecting kids, not to TikTok, but to opportunities to extend the learning day," Johnson said. "We're connecting them not to Facebook, but to opportunities to make sure they have access to great telehealth and telemedicine."

Here's the full list of 58 grants announced Thursday:

  • City of Bonifay ($4,984,073) — to provide fiber to the home (FTTH) services to 259 unserved premises in the rural area of Holmes County north of Bonifay with speeds up to 200 megabits per second (MBPS).

  • Towns of Bell, Cross City and Horseshoe Beach ($3,506,234) — to complete the first of three phases designed to bring FTTH services to over 11,000 of its metered customers in Gilchrist and Dixie counties at speeds up to 2 gigabits per second (GB).

  • City of Trenton ($2,666,244) — to provide FTTH services to 1,965 premises with symmetrical 1GB speeds to residents in Gilchrist County.

  • Cities of Palm Bay, West Melbourne and Titusville; Mims and Unincorporated Brevard County ($573,788) — to provide FTTH services to 443 unserved and underserved locations within Brevard County with minimum download speeds of 300 MBPS and upload speeds of 10 MBPS.

  • City of Bonifay ($4,998,524) — to provide FTTH services to 266 unserved premises in the rural area of Holmes County in the vicinity of Bonifay with download and upload speeds of 200 MBPS.

  • City of Keystone Heights; Clay Hill, Middleburg, McRae and Virginia Village ($1,880,000) — to provide FTTH services to 1,917 premises, 42 businesses and 8 community anchor institutions in Clay County capable of symmetrical download and upload speeds of 100 MBPS.

  • Putnam County ($1,192,410) — to add 60 miles of fiber optic cable to their existing network to provide FTTH services to 1,192 unserved locations within Putnam County with symmetrical download and upload speeds of 1GB.

  • City of Archer; Town of Micanopy ($4,672,393) — to add 132 miles of fiber optic cable to their existing network to provide FTTH services to 1,701 unserved locations within Alachua County with minimum symmetrical download and upload speeds of 100 MBPS.

  • City of Gainesville ($1,438,610) — to add 27 miles of fiber optic cable to their existing network to provide FTTH services to 193 unserved locations within Alachua County with minimum symmetrical download and upload speeds of 100 MBPS.

  • City of Ocala ($1,423,488) — to add 53 miles of fiber optic cable to their existing network to provide FTTH services to 1,022 unserved locations within Marion County with minimum symmetrical download and upload speeds of 100 MBPS.

  • Cities of Archer and Newberry ($4,822,632) — to add 78 miles of fiber optic cable to their existing network to provide FTTH services to 795 unserved locations within Alachua County with minimum symmetrical download and upload speeds of 100 MBPS.

  • Town of Cross City ($5,000,000) — to deploy fiber optic cable and infrastructure to provide fiber to the home services to 1,067 unserved locations within Dixie County at minimum symmetrical download and upload speeds of 100 MBPS.

  • Town of Westville ($1,072,596) — to provide FTTH services for unserved areas within Holmes County at download and upload speeds up to 200 MBPS.

  • City of Live Oak; Towns of Mayo and Day ($5,000,000) — to add 1,016 miles of fiber optic cable to their existing network to provide FTTH services to 25,679 unserved and underserved locations within Suwannee and Lafayette Counties with minimum symmetrical download and upload speeds of 100 MBPS.

  • Cities of Live Oak and Jasper; Towns of White Spring and Jennings ($5,000,000) — to add 757 miles of fiber optic cable to their existing network to provide FTTH services to 28,493 unserved and underserved locations within Suwannee and Hamilton Counties with minimum symmetrical download and upload speeds of 100 MBPS.

  • City of Bokeelia ($63,311) — to add 1.1 miles of fiber optic cable to provide FTTH services to 110 unserved locations within Lee County with minimum symmetrical download and upload speeds of 200 MBPS.

  • City of Moore Haven; Lakeport and Ortona ($2,935,296) — to add 160 miles of fiber optic cable to provide FTTH services to 4,651 unserved and underserved locations within Glades County with minimum symmetrical download and upload speeds of 1 GBPS.

  • Town of Cross City ($2,020,902) — to add 58.8 miles of fiber optic cable to provide FTTH services to 2,612 unserved and underserved locations within Dixie County with minimum symmetrical download and upload speeds of 1 GBPS.

  • City of Riverdale; Flagler Estates and Spuds ($1,830,000) — to add 118 miles of fiber optic cable to provide FTTH services to 1,603 unserved and underserved locations within St. Johns County with minimum symmetrical download and upload speeds of 1 GBPS.

  • City of LaBelle; Montura ($2,496,672) — to add 58.8 miles of fiber optic cable to provide FTTH services to 1,424 unserved and underserved locations within Hendry County with minimum symmetrical download and upload speeds of 1 GBPS.

  • Lehigh Acres ($3,988,532) — to add 126 miles of fiber optic cable to provide FTTH services to 1,998 underserved locations in eastern Lee County with minimum symmetrical download and upload speeds of 1 GBPS.

  • Cities of Botswick and Keystone Heights; Towns of Pomona Park, Interlocken, Melrose, and Welaka; Putnam Hall, George’s Lake, and Unincorporated Crescent City ($4,496,107) — to deploy fiber optic cable service to 2,986 unserved and underserved locations within Putnam County with minimum download speeds of 50 MBPS and upload speeds of 10 MBPS.

  • Lehigh Acres ($4,111,225) — to deploy fiber optic cable service to 2,640 unserved and underserved locations within Lee County with minimum download speeds of 50 MBPS and upload speeds of 10 MBPS.

  • Cities of Hampton, Lawtey, and Starke ($2,160,000) — to deploy fiber optic cable service to 2,111 unserved and underserved locations in Bradford County with minimum download speeds of 50 MBPS and upload speeds of 10 MBPS.

  • Columbia County ($2,646,030) — to deploy fiber optic cable service to 1,725 unserved and underserved locations in Columbia County with minimum download speeds of 50 MBPS and upload speeds of 10 MBPS.

  • City of Fort Pierce of ($1,429,400) — to deploy fiber optic cable service to 636 unserved and underserved locations in St Lucie County with minimum download speeds of 50 MBPS and upload speeds of 10 MBPS.

  • Cities of Clewiston, Moore Haven, and Pioneer; Montura, Palmdale, Port LaBelle and Venus ($5,000,000) — to deploy FTTH services to more than 4,231 unserved locations in Glades, Hendry, and Highlands Counties with symmetrical download and upload speeds of between 1GB and 2GB.

  • Town of Nocatee; Unincorporated Brownsville ($1,657,558) — to provide FTTH services to 1,313 unserved and underserved residential customers in DeSoto County with 50 MBPS download and 10 MBPS upload speeds.

  • Town of Ponce de Leon ($3,639,672) — to deploy FTTH services to 259 unserved homes, businesses, and farms in Holmes County with download and upload speeds up to 200 MBPS speeds.

  • Towns of Alford, Cottondale, Grand Ridge, and Greenwood; Two Egg ($2,040,743) — to provide FTTH services to 1,082 unserved and underserved residential customers and 29 businesses and anchor institutions in Jackson County with symmetrical download and upload speeds of 1GB.

  • City of Homestead; Redlands and Unincorporated Florida City ($1,510,481) — to provide FTTH services to 800 unserved and underserved residential customers and 10 businesses and anchor institutions in Miami-Dade County with symmetrical download and upload speeds of 1 Gbps or higher.

  • Clarksville and Unincorporated Northwest Calhoun County ($2,648,194) — to add 99.8 miles of FTTH via ethernet passive optical network to connect 716 underserved homes and businesses in Calhoun County with a standard starting speed of up to 300 MBPS download and 10 Mbps upload speeds.

  • Town of Altha; Willis, Chipola, Eufala, and Unincorporated Northeast Calhoun County ($3,375,471) — to add 142.1 miles of fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) via ethernet passive optical network to connect 1,210 unserved and underserved homes and businesses in Calhoun County with a standard starting speed of up to 300 MBPS download and 10 MBPS upload speeds.

  • City of Bunnell; Andalusia and Bimini ($527,659) — to add 20.2 miles of FTTP via ethernet passive optical network to connect 128 unserved and underserved homes and businesses in Flagler County with a standard starting speed of up to 300 MBPS download and 10 MBPS upload speeds.

  • Cities of Chattahoochee, Gretna, and Quincy; Town of Greensboro; Wetumpka ($1,844,095) — to add 281.7 miles of FTTP via ethernet passive optical network to connect 3,390 unserved and underserved homes and businesses in Gadsden County with a standard starting speed of up to 300 MBPS download and 10 MBPS upload speeds.

  • City of Pioneer; La Deca and Montura ($4,750,000) — to bring high speed internet service to eastern Hendry County through installation of fixed wireless service to 1,700 households at download speeds of 100 MBPS and upload speeds of 10 MBPS.

  • City of Punta Gorda; Port Charlotte ($2,397,636) — to provide FTTH services to 1,469 unserved or underserved residential customers and 195 businesses in Charlotte County with 1GBPS or higher symmetrical download and upload speeds.

  • North Brooksville, Spring Lake, Nobleton, South Brooksville, Hill ‘N Dale, Istachatta, North Weeki Wachee, and Unincorporated Hernando County ($4,701,477) — to add 258.5 miles of FTTP via ethernet passive optical network to connect 2,276 underserved homes and businesses in Hernando County with a standard starting speed of up to 300 MBPS download and 10 MBPS upload.

  • City of Graceville; Unincorporated Northeast Holmes County ($107,317) — to add 9.1 miles of FTTP via ethernet passive optical network to connect 97 unserved or underserved homes and businesses in Holmes County with a standard starting speed of up to 300 MBPS download and 10 MBPS upload.

  • City of Williston Town of Bronson; Morriston, Raleigh, Williston Highlands, Rosewood, and Sumner ($1,259,236) — to add 48.1 miles of FTTP via ethernet passive optical network to connect 405 unserved or underserved homes and businesses in Levy County with a standard starting speed of up to 300 MBPS download and 10 MBPS upload.

  • City of Bristol; Town of White Springs; Lake Mystic, Estiffanulga, and Unincorporated NE Liberty County ($836,705) — to add 47.8 miles of FTTP via ethernet passive optical network to connect 433 unserved or underserved homes and businesses in Liberty County with a standard starting speed of up to 300 MBPS download and 10 MBPS upload.

  • Deer Park and Bull Creek ($3,605,129) — to deploy 135.4 miles of new fiber optic cable and provide FTTH services to 1,024 unserved locations within Osceola County with download speeds of 300 MBPS and upload speeds of 10 MBPS.

  • Yeehaw Junction and Kenansville ($4,067,268) — to deploy 153.5 miles of new fiber optic cable and provide FTTH services to 791 unserved locations within Osceola County with download speeds of 300 MBPS and upload speeds of 10 MBPS.

  • Town of Jay; Fidelis, Berrydale, Cobbtown, and Unincorporated Santa Rosa County, ($2,363,937) — to deploy 103.7 miles of new fiber optic cable and provide FTTH services to 791 unserved locations within Santa Rosa County with download speeds of 300 MBPS and upload speeds of 10 MBPS.

  • Geneva and Black Hammock ($367,000) — to deploy 51.7 miles of new fiber optic cable and provide FTTH services to 734 unserved locations within Seminole County with download speeds of 300 MBPS and upload speeds of 10 MBPS.

  • City of Lake Helen; DeLeon Springs, Balm, Farmton, Osteen, and Boden ($811,000) — to deploy 124.1 miles of new fiber optic cable and provide FTTH services to 1,622 unserved locations within Volusia County with download speeds of 300 MBPS and upload speeds of 10 MBPS.

  • Cities of Fountain, Southport, and Youngstown ($866,700) — to deploy fiber optic cable internet service to 2,500 unserved households in Bay County with download and upload speeds of up to 1GBPS.

  • Unincorporated Okeechobee County ($2,059,550) — to deploy fiber optic cable internet service to 2,312 unserved households in Okeechobee County with download and upload speeds of up to 1GBPS.

  • Unincorporated Okeechobee County ($984,350) — to deploy fiber optic cable internet service to 1,290 unserved households in Okeechobee County with download and upload speeds of up to 1GBPS.

  • Orangetree and Golden Gate Estates ($777,407) — to deploy fiber optic cable internet service to 781 unserved households in Collier County with download and upload speeds of up to 1GBPS.

  • Cities of Sebring and Avon Park ($1,363,975) — to deploy fiber optic cable internet service to over 700 unserved households in Highlands County with download and upload speeds of up to 1GBPS.

  • Chaires ($236,300) — to deploy fiber optic cable internet service to over 119 unserved households in Leon County with download and upload speeds of up to 1GBPS.

  • Unincorporated Indian River County ($532,147) — to deploy fiber optic cable internet service to 674 unserved households in the unincorporated areas in Indian River County with download and upload

  • City of Jasper; Town of Jennings ($2,734,261) — to deploy fiber optic cable internet service to 2,156 unserved households in Hamilton County download and upload speeds of up to 1GBPS.

  • Indiantown ($56,500) — to deploy fiber optic cable internet service to 50 unserved households in Martin County with download and upload speeds of up to 1GBPS.

  • Escambia County ($802,489) — to deploy 24.8 miles on new fiber optic cable and provide FTTH services to 206 unserved locations within Escambia County with minimum download speeds of 300 MBPS and upload speeds of 10 MBPS.

  • Town of Bell ($4,956,100) — to employ fixed wireless technology to provide high speed internet service to 1,350 unserved premises in Gilchrist County.

  • Polk County ($4,734,786) — to lease 8 miles of fiber optic cable to provide fixed wireless services to 22,169 unserved and underserved locations in and around the City of Lakeland, City of Winter Haven, City of Haines City and City of Lake Wales.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Ron DeSantis announces $144 million for Florida rural broadband