Home, Kan. – The Kansas Department of Commerce announced today, Blue Valley Technologies, formerly known as One Point Technologies, has been selected as the recipient of four grants to help deploy fiber optic broadband to 480 rural Kansas locations. These locations include the city of Bern, the southern section of the city of Blue Rapids, as well as rural areas east of Winifred and north of Frankfort.
The grants were made available as part of Governor Kelly’s efforts to ensure all Kansans have the opportunity to live, work, learn and compete in a global economy by improving universal access to quality, affordable and reliable broadband. During a press conference held in McFarland, Kan. on March 11, 2021, Governor Kelly announced $5 million dollars had been awarded to Kansas broadband companies resulting in projects exceeding $10 million dollars. Governor Kelly stated this was the first time in history the State would be funding internet deployment.
The need to deploy fiber to these areas was validated by the numerous letters of support written by community members and business leaders.
“I cannot begin to describe how excited BVT is to provide robust broadband internet to our underserved and unserved friends and neighbors. We’ve known for a long time there are areas that have been overlooked, but the pandemic truly brought those areas to light,” commented BVT Chief Executive Officer, Candace Wright. “This grant will not only change BVT’s footprint, but it will also change the lives of those once living outside it.”
Chief Operations Officer, John Smith added, “We already have engineers working on the plans and getting our processes in place. Our plan is to start putting our fiber in the ground by early summer.”
BVT will be working to complete the entire project by spring 2022.