Specifications include, but are not limited to: Cumberland County, New Jersey, is seeking $24,176,692 from the Middle Mile Grant (MMG) Program from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the United States Department of Commerce to create an interconnecting series of middle-mile rings, servicing Cumberland and adjacent Salem County, New Jersey. This application is being facilitated by the Cumberland County Improvement Authority (“The Authority”) with Salem County an active partner in its development. This project represents a unique partnership between two neighboring counties in southern New Jersey: Cumberland and Salem Counties. These two counties have long had a strong working relationship; however, this project marks a genuine step forward in collaboration between the two Counties. Throughout the two-County region, there are significant swaths of the area which feature underserved and unserved residents living with incredibly slow internet access or with no Broadband access at all. As with many unserved or underserved populations, these pockets tend to be somewhat sparsely populated with high levels of low- or moderate-income residents. Within this region, there are significant national assets which require greater access to broadband connectivity. The Salem Nuclear Power Plant is a two-unit pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant located in Lower Alloways Creek Township in Salem County. The New Jersey Wind Port, also in Lower Alloways Creek Township, is the nation’s first purpose-built offshore wind marshaling port, providing marshalling space, heavy-lift wharfs and component laydown areas, and open access to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the only facility of its kind in the western hemisphere, and its continued operation is essential to supporting the nation’s nascent wind industry and reducing our nation’s reliance on fossil fuels. Nominally, there are nine last-mile service providers throughout the project area: four satellite providers, two fixed-wireless providers, one fiber provider, one ADSL provider, and one cable provider. Of these, the four satellite providers, the ADSL provider, and the two fixed-wireless providers typically do not offer service at the 100 Mbps downstream /25 Mbps upstream speeds provided for by this program.
