C Spire has been working to bridge the middle mile gap in the rural southeastern U.S., plugging away at construction of a backhaul network in the area for the past few years. Its effort just got some fresh legs in the form of $26.2 million in funding from the federal government’s Middle Mile grant program.
The money will cover roughly half the cost of what will ultimately be a $52.6 million, 677 route-mile project designed to connect its existing assets around Birmingham, Alabama to parts of more than two dozen un- and underserved counties. Out of the total miles built, 411.5 will be used to connect unserved areas, 29.8 to underserved regions and 235.8 to reach four internet peering points.
According to its award notice, C Spire plans to use 144-count buried fiber for the project. It will offer symmetrical 1-gig services to anchor institutions within 1,000 feet of the network and support both wholesale and retail services. The operator already has “documented interest” from two last mile service providers, the notice states.
C Spire won the money via its Troy Cablevision subsidiary. The operator struck a deal to acquire Alabama’s Troy Cablevision in late 2021, wrapping the transaction in December of that year. It finished rebranding the Troy Cabelvision assets this June. In addition to the Middle Mile grant, C Spire has secured at least eight state grants under the Troy Cablevision name.
The operator’s project was one of 36 to receive funding from the $1 billion Middle Mile grant program, with Zayo one of the only big name recipients. To date, $930 million of the available funding has been doled out.
Hu Meena, president and CEO of C Spire, said in a statement the Middle Mile award “reinforces our long-standing commitment to Alabama, and expansion of our services across the state, bringing ultra-fast fiber to rural communities, encouraging private sector broadband investment and leveraging existing resources to residents and businesses.”
Since 2021, C Spire has been working on a three-year, $1 billion project to bring fiber to markets across Alabama and Mississippi, spending about $500 million in each. Already it has announced a new 243-mile route in Alabama and is workings its way north into Tennessee as well.
As of July, C Spire said its fiber service was available across more than 100 communities in Alabama and Mississippi as well as “several Tennessee communities.”