Lightwave is reporting that 66 new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act broadband projects will kick off in the second round of broadband stimulus awards. In round two, like round one, many awards will go to projects that are based on fiber-optic communications, Lightwave says.

"The projects involve last-mile, middl-mile,a nd public computing center applications," says Lightwave editor-in-chief Stephen Hardy in his report. He also states that the single biggest grant/loan combination of $48.1 million will go to Wilkes Telephone & Electric Co. of Georgia.

Hardy explained that the $795 million in grants and loans made through the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture have been matched by more than $200 million in outside investment.

Read Lightwave's full report.

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