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Missouri Rural Broadband Expansion Continues With $24.1 Million From FCC

Published by KBIA Radio on June 12, 2019

By Columbia Missourian & Galen Bacharier 

For years, rural Missouri residents have suffered from a lack of broadband internet access. New federal funding totaling $24.1 million will expand that access for nearly 10,000 Missouri homes over the next decade, the Federal Communications Commission announced Monday.

Funding applications for two companies, Co-Mo Connect and Callabyte Technology, were approved by the FCC this month. Co-Mo Connect was awarded $21,968,964 over 10 years, servicing 8,356 homes, while Callabyte Technology, a subsidiary of Callaway Electric Cooperative, received $2,174,192 over 10 years to service 1,485 homes. Co-Mo Connect is based in Tipton, while Callabyte is housed in Fulton.

The two companies are required to provide download speeds of 1 gigabit per second and upload speeds of 500 megabits per second. For comparison, the average state-wide speed in Missouri is 40.3 megabits per second, according to BroadbandNow.com, which tracks broadband access and speeds around the country.

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