Source: TDS Press Release

TDS Telecommunications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE:TDS), announced that contractors from 17 telecom construction companies received details to bid on broadband Internet expansion projects in Ind. and Mich. TDS hosted the pre-bid meeting to outline project plans that will expand broadband networks in parts of Ind. and Mich. Bids are due to TDS in about two weeks.

The projects, funded in part through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, were awarded to TDS by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS). Once complete, more than 1,400 customers in the areas served by TDS’ phone companies (outlined today), will have access to a high-speed Internet connection. The areas impacted include:

• Camden Telephone Company, Inc. {areas just east and west of Camden as well as north of Deer Creek}
• Home Telephone Company, Inc. {areas just to the east and west of Geneva}
• Tipton Telephone Company, Inc. {areas north of Tipton and an area southeast of Tipton}
• Tri-County Telephone Company, Inc. {areas north and south of Wingate as well as east of Colfax}
• Communications Corporation of Michigan {an area north of Augusta and one north of Seneca}

NOTE: click on company name above for map detailing where high-speed Internet services will be expanded.

Source: Windstream Press Release

Windstream (Nasdaq:WIN) announced it has begun construction of its first broadband stimulus project in Arkansas. The work southwest of Harrison is being funded in part by a federal grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. 

Nationally, Windstream was the largest single recipient of broadband stimulus grants awarded on a competitive basis by the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service.

Windstream won grants totaling $181.3 million for projects in 13 states, including Arkansas. The grants cover 75 percent of the cost of installing broadband. Windstream will invest the remaining 25 percent, a total of $60.4 million.

Windstream has now begun stimulus work in 12 of the 13 states where it has grants, and multiple projects are underway in most states.

Statewide in Arkansas, the federal grant totals almost $7.3 million, and Windstream’s investment is more than $2.4 million.