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Governor Lamont Announces $10 Million in Grants Awarded for Continued Broadband Expansion [[link removed]]
Posted on April 22, 2025
(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) announced today the second round of awards in the state’s ConneCTed Communities Grant Program [[link removed]]. Totaling $9.9 million, these funds will be used by internet service providers to build out broadband infrastructure, which will serve an estimated 3,802 residences and businesses in 44 towns and cities.
The grant awards announced today build on $24 million in grants benefitting 88 cities and towns announced last year in round 1 of this program. Funded through the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund, the ConneCTed Communities Grant Program was established to fund the construction and deployment of broadband infrastructure designed to support the goal of universal access to fast, affordable, and reliable broadband. DEEP has made great progress towards awarding funds to advance this work.
To date, with this second round included, the ConneCTed Communities Grant Program has announced $34 million in awards to support buildouts for:
5,582 locations; 116 cities and towns; and 30 distressed municipalities.
“This is a milestone in the state’s ongoing work to increase access to high-speed broadband for all Connecticut residents,” Governor Lamont said. “Fast, affordable internet connectivity is essential to the success and wellbeing of our residents. Being able to go online and access the internet is tied to nearly every aspect of daily life from paying bills to finding employment and housing and even accessing healthcare.”
“This latest round of grant awards is supporting the vital work of bringing broadband infrastructure to locations with the greatest needs,” DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said. “Research shows that 92% of jobs require digital skills and 60% of adults get health information online. This effort is critical. It’s about increasing access to vital elements of daily life, and helping to improve health, safety, affordability, and prosperity for the people of Connecticut.”
The grant recipients for the second round of the ConneCTed Communities Grant Program are as follows:
ConneCTed Communities Grant Program
April 2025 Grant Round 2
Provisional Awardee
Project Area
Number of Locations in Project Area
Number of Units in Project Area*
Grant Funding
Frontier Communications (d.b.a. Frontier)
Canterbury, Griswold, Killingly, Plainfield, Putnam, Sterling, Woodstock
1180
1423
$1,232,486.00
Frontier Communications
Enfield, Granby, Somers, Stafford
164
412
$624,227.00
Frontier Communications
Colebrook, Cornwall, Goshen, Litchfield, Morris, Sharon, Torrington, Warren, Watertown, Winchester
504
698
$5,076,560.00
Frontier Communications
New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, Sherman
105
158
$69,805.00
Frontier Communications
Bridgeport, Darien, Milford, Norwalk, Stamford
153
518
$755,971.00
Frontier Communications
East Haddam, East Lyme, Meriden, Waterford
297
480
$919,205.00
Comcast**
Griswold, Killingly, North Canaan, Voluntown
35
49
$762,295.77
Comcast
Bolton, Burlington, Colchester, East Haddam, East Lyme, Guilford, North Haven, Salem, Sharon, Shelton, Wallingford, Watertown
38
64
$540,273.06
*A location refers to a specific physical address or site, such as a residential home or apartment building, while units are the individual households or small businesses within that location, meaning one location can contain multiple units.
**Project received a match waiver.
For an interactive map of locations awarded in this grant round, click here [[link removed]].
DEEP is also administering the $144 million Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, which is in the deployment phase now, and will bring broadband to unserved and underserved locations and community anchor institutions.
ConneCTed Communities Funds Still Available
DEEP has approximately $6.7 million remaining in funding available through the ConneCTed Communities Program. Municipalities, community organizations, and internet service providers are eligible to apply. A major focus of this initiative is supporting broadband upgrades in multi-dwelling units (MDUs). To identify MDUs in need of faster, more reliable broadband, DEEP has launched a survey to help with the identification process. Learn more about this effort and take the survey here [[link removed]].
As noted in the 2024 Connecticut Broadband Report [[link removed]], the state has made great strides toward Governor Lamont’s goal of ensuring broadband internet speeds of 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) download and 100 megabits per second (Mbps) upload for all residents. Gigabit-speed broadband is now available to nearly 850,000 locations statewide, up from nearly zero in 2022. The percentage of residential and small business locations lacking basic internet access has dropped from 1.7% in 2022 to just 0.4% in 2024. Efforts to address price and non-price barriers to adoption have helped contribute to a rise in overall internet subscriptions, now covering 92.2% of households.
For more information about the many initiatives supporting broadband expansion in Connecticut, click here [[link removed]].
Read on CT.gov [[link removed]]
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