Microsoft awards grants to expand rural broadband access in five states

Arif Bacchus

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Microsoft has announced today (August 1st) the winners of the annual Airband Grant Fund. There were four winners across five states here in the US, all of which are aiming to help bring broadband internet access to rural communities. Microsoft will be providing these grant winners financing, technology, mentorship, and other support to help scale their new technologies, services, and business models.

The winners in the US span across New York, West Virginia, California, Maine, and Texas. In New York, CvWireless was the grant winner, for using innovative broadband solutions to connect 300 households in Essex County. Additionally, in West Virginia, the winner was Skylark Wireless, for their work to extend broadband access to 10,000 households and businesses in Mingo County.

California’s winner was both Tribal Digital Village and Numbers4Health.   Tribal Digital Village (TDVNet) plans to bring broadband to tribal land in the rural community of Valley Center, California, and Numbers4Health will deploy a solution to bring telemedicine and improve healthcare outcomes in Compton, California. Numbers4Health also won in Maine, and Texas for their work to help support telemedicine and improve healthcare outcomes in rural Maine.

There were also four international grant winners in Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya, and Bangladesh. In the same order, these winners were Mesh Power, Cold Hubs, Agsol, and ME Solshare. You can learn more about Microsoft’s Airband initiatives and the use of TV White Spaces by clicking here.