(Research Triangle Park, N.C.) The U.S. Department of Commerce announced today that MCNC, an independent non-profit organization that employs advanced networking technologies and systems to improve learning and collaboration throughout North Carolina’s K-20 education community, has been awarded $75.75 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Broadband Recovery Funds through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) to support the Golden LEAF Rural Broadband Initiative (GLRBI).

This award builds on MCNC’s Round 1 BTOP award, a $39.9 million project (including $28.2 million in BTOP Funds) granted in January 2010 to build 480 miles of fiber in 37 counties in southeastern and western N.C.

The GLRBI will enhance the existing North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), which MCNC has operated for the last quarter century, and will add to the existing ERC Broadband Network operated by the non-profit ERC Broadband in western North Carolina. Approximately 1,300 miles of new middle-mile fiber will be built throughout the state under this latest award. In addition, about 400 miles of existing fiber will be provided to the GLRBI through lease agreements and donations. The middle-mile is the sector of the network that connects last-mile facilities such as telecom company local interconnection points (central offices) with the commercial Internet and with national and global advanced research networks such as Internet2 and National Lambda Rail.

The Golden LEAF Foundation Board of Directors awarded $24 million in matching funds for the Round 2 grant. An additional $5.25 million in match was raised from the MCNC endowment, donations of land from individual community colleges and universities, and a donation of already-installed conduit in northeastern North Carolina from the Albemarle Pamlico Economic Development Corporation. UNC-Chapel Hill’s Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute for Entrepreneurship and School of Government helped prepare the GLRBI application.

MCNC raised $11.7 million in matching funds for its successful Round 1 application through private sources, including $4 million from the MCNC endowment.

North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue congratulated MCNC and the Golden LEAF Foundation as well as commended U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and his team at the NTIA for making this second middle-mile investment in North Carolina through the BTOP program.

“This investment provides North Carolina with a robust broadband infrastructure that will help deliver access to education, through NCREN, that is not defined geographically but is equitable for every student at every level of education,” said Gov. Perdue. “This infrastructure also helps us scale to meet the health care needs of our most rural citizens, and levels the playing field in attracting high-paying jobs to rural North Carolina.”

The GLRBI expands the NCREN footprint to traverse a total of 69 counties in the rural Northeastern, North Central, Northwest and South Central parts of North Carolina. Sixty-seven of these counties are designated as rural, according to Federal Highway Administration standards, and are designated as fully or partially underserved with respect to the availability of broadband service.

MCNC’s application for ARRA recovery funds was tendered to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s NTIA and BTOP on March 25, a day prior to the March 26 deadline. For Round 2, the program required a 20-percent funding match by applicants but gave priority review to applications raising 30 percent in matching funds. The design, construction, and operation of the network could create more than 1,000 engineering/construction jobs.

The new fiber-optic build will connect with the existing-owned NCREN fiber in North Carolina’s urban core as well as the new Round 1 BTOP fiber. The GLRBI will greatly increase the broadband capacity and stabilize bandwidth and Internet access costs for public school systems, community college campuses, libraries, universities, and other community anchor institutions that connect to NCREN.

In addition, many private-sector wholesalers and last-mile service providers have expressed interest to MCNC in leasing fiber on the GLRBI. More than a dozen letters of support and interest from private-sector service providers were included in the GLRBI application. As a result, every region of the newly-funded fiber build will likely have private-sector partners who will increase the broadband service options for citizens and businesses in these areas.