$930 mn grants announced in Biden's effort to expand internet access in US

The massive federal effort to expand internet access to every home in the U.S. took a major step forward on Friday with the announcement of $930 million in grants to shore up connections in remote parts of Alaska, rural Texas and dozens of other places where significant gaps in connectivity persist.

The so-called middle mile grants, announced by the Department of Commerce, are meant to create large-scale networks that will enable retail broadband providers to link subscribers to the internet.

Department officials likened the role of the middle mile the midsection of the infrastructure necessary to enable internet access, composed of high-capacity fibre lines carrying huge amounts of data at very high speeds to how the interstate highway system forged connections between communities.

These networks are the workhorses carrying large amounts of data over very long distances, said Mitch Landrieu, the White House's infrastructure coordinator, in a media Zoom call.

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