16 MS Counties to Get Broadband Access

JACKSON, Miss. - Sixteen Mississippi counties are set to receive high-speed broadband Internet access under a project funded by $20.7 million in federal stimulus money.

Birmingham-Ala. based Contact Network Inc., or Inline, was awarded the stimulus money in recent days, The Clarion-Ledger reported Saturday.

The company will contribute $5.2 million to the project to install 600 miles of fiber optic broadband cables. Chief technical officer Bryan Gilliom tells the newspaper the company is pleased to receive the funds to expand service to areas without it.

The broadband project is part of 66 grants totaling $795 million for broadband in underserved areas nationwide, the White House said in a statement. Contact Network estimated that the project will create about 100 jobs.