A Federal Communications Commission fund is paying $21 million annually to Windstream Communications Inc. to make broadband Internet service available to more than 62,000 rural homes and businesses in Kentucky.
The Connect America Fund will pay Windstream to make service available in locations where it might be cost prohibitive to offer broadband otherwise. FCC spokesman Mark Wigfield says the deal enables the company to charge customers approximately the national average for broadband.
The FCC said in a news release Wednesday that Windstream will be able to deliver broadband at speeds of at least 10 megabits per second for downloads and 1 Mbps for uploads.
The FCC says nearly one-third of rural Americans lack access to such service.
