The state of Florida awarded $60 million through its Broadband Opportunity Program for 22 broadband projects on Friday, with grants going to a mix of cable companies, co-ops and local fiber and fixed wireless providers. According to a press release, the grants will reach 58,000 unserved "residential, educational, agricultural, business and community locations" in 19 counties. Grant recipients this round include Charter ($14.4 million for eight projects), Conexon Connect ($7.6 million for two projects) and Comcast ($5.4 million for three projects). Other winners include Cox and Central Florida Electric Cooperative, which each received $5 million for a single project. Among the FWA winners were local providers Rapid Systems ($5 million) and Roamr ($4.9 million). Local fiber provider LiveOak Fiber also picked up a small grant this round at $207,087.

The US Treasury Department this week approved $151.5 million in American Rescue Plan capital projects funding for broadband projects in Mississippi. According to a press release, the funding will connect roughly 47,300 homes and businesses through Mississippi's Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) fund, which will prioritize last-mile fiber applicants.

IQ Fiber announced it will invest nearly $40 million to deploy a fiber network in Gainesville, Florida. According to a press release, IQ Fiber will be "the first locally based residential fiber-optic company to enter the Gainesville market." IQ Fiber is supported by private equity funding and recently received $150 million in second round equity funding from founding investor SDC Capital Partners to support its network expansion activity this year. All told, the company is targeting an initial buildout of 60,000 serviceable locations across Northeast Florida.

TDS Telecom this week announced that it completed its fiber expansion in Nelson, Marble Hill and Ball Ground, Georgia, where it has been a provider for 34 years. The privately funded network expansion provides access to symmetrical 1 Gbit/s service to more than 2,800 addresses. Separately this week, TDS announced it is leveraging Alternative Connect America funds, in addition to private investment, to build out fiber in Maine's Franklin and Somerset counties, bringing service to 7,400 homes and businesses. According to a press release, work is underway in some communities with construction to begin in others "soon."

Ziply Fiber recently announced progress on its northwest buildouts in Clatskanie, Oregon, as well as Westport, Washington. According to the company, gigabit service is now available for more than 400 addresses throughout Clatskanie, Oregon, and 400 throughout Westport, Washington. Once complete, the Clatskanie network will service 1,300 addresses, and the Westport network will service 1,400.

Surf Internet celebrated the launch of its fiber services in Culver, Indiana, this week. According to a press release, Surf Internet invested $800,000 and received $530,000 in funding from the Culver Redevelopment Commission for the buildout in the town of Culver, which has a population of "roughly 1,200 people."

Also this week: Northeast fiber provider Empire Access announced it is expanding to Horseheads and Southport, New York. Construction is underway and service will be available "during the Summer of 2023," said the company, which has financial support from Antin Infrastructure Partners. Moving westward, All West Communications announced it will start construction this month to bring its fiber broadband network to South Ogden, Utah, expected to be complete in 2024. And finally, California-based fiber provider Cityside Fiber started construction on a fiber network in Tustin, California, adding that it will start "additional fiber network builds in surrounding cities" in Orange County this year.