Shaded areas designate portions of Tama county which will he included in broadband internet expansion by Windstream. An announcement Monday said the company has received $38.6 million to expand service in Iowa. -Governor’s Office Graphic

Much of rural Tama County appears to be included in a major expansion of broadband internet service. An announcement at Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds press conference said Windstream will be receiving $28,672,554 to build out broadband to 44,930 across the state locations and an accompanying map shows this includes at least much of rural Tama county in both the southern and northern sections.

Based upon the preliminary map, there is not enough detail to determine if this will affect service to any cities in the county. It is noted the expansion includes both “unserved and underserved areas.”

According to the news release, the broadband internet expansion, a priority of the Branstad-Reynolds administration, was made possible by $53.2 million in grants from the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Connect America Fund (CAF).

“In Iowa, technology and access to broadband Internet is the great equalizer for our rural communities,” said Branstad. “We have put a focus on broadband Internet expansion because if our small businesses are to compete in a global economy, our schools are to have access to an abundance of online learning resources and our farmers are to connect their modern equipment for precision farming, we must connect every acre with broadband infrastructure. I’m pleased that CenturyLink, Windstream, Frontier and Consolidated Communications are all choosing to invest in Iowa to connect our communities.”

Among those joining the governor and lt. governor at the press conference was Gregory Gray, Iowa Operations Chief of Windstream. Windstream has an operating office in Toledo.

Other providers receiving grant money are:

CenturyLink – $17,893,887 to build out broadband to 34,827 locations.

Frontier will be receiving $4,240,587 to build out broadband to 5,438 locations.

Consolidated Communications will be receiving $2,393,216 to build out broadband to 3,019 locations.