Contributed article
GRAHAM COUNTY — The long-awaited news that the Graham County Regional Fiber Project will be funded came from the Arizona Commerce Authority’s -Broadband Office. The project was originally submitted by Valley TeleCom Group (Valley) and Graham County for consideration in January of 2022. When the awards were announced in June of that year the Graham County project was left out of the funding.
Shortly after the initial grants were awarded, the Arizona Broadband Office contacted Valley, acknowledging the project’s merit but explaining that there were insufficient funds to grant the award. Since then, changes in a few previously funded projects have freed up additional resources, making further funding available.
“We are very excited to have been awarded the Graham County Project,” said Troy Judd, CEO of Valley. “Expanding our services to meet the needs of Graham County residents has been a long-standing goal for us. This project builds on the investment and expansion we made in Thatcher back in 2021. With the additional funding from the Arizona Broadband Office, we can now extend high-speed connectivity even further west, bringing critical connections to some of our most rural communities.”
Graham County Regional Fiber Project – This grant award of $4,810,148 will fund the extension of Valley’s backbone network by 8.3 miles from Thatcher to Ft. Thomas and the construction of 65.5 miles of last-mile infrastructure serving the communities of Bryce, Eden, and Ft. Thomas. To support this effort, the Graham County Board of Supervisors has allocated $250,000 in matching funds, with Valley contributing an additional $463,722. Together, these contributions represent 13% of the total project cost of $5,523,870—a valuable investment in enhancing connectivity for Graham County residents.
In the initial round of funding of the Arizona Broadband Development Grant, Valley was awarded 2 grants.Those projects werethe Fiber Investment for West Willcox Rural Community andthe Santa Cruz County Patagonia Regional Broadband Project – Patagonia. Both projects are currently under construction with anticipation of services being available in the spring of 2025.
Valley TeleCom Group is deeply committed to the communities it se …
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