AT&T Hopes Indiana Public Private Partnerships Will Be the First of Many

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The two public private partnerships that AT&T has announced in Indiana, including one expected with the City of Boonville (IN), could be the first of many, said Jeff Luong, AT&T president for broadband access and adoption initiatives. “We’re having discussions with communities across the country,” said Luong. The announced agreement with Boonville, contingent on funding approval by the city and a final contract, comes just a few months after AT&T inked a private partnership with neighboring Vanderburgh County. The plan is for AT&T to make fiber broadband available to 4,000 locations in Boonville. Luong confirmed that the $4.4 million Boonville project will be funded, in part, by the city and in part by AT&T but declined to specify the percentage of the project cost that will be covered by either party. He did say, though, that the city will not need to issue bonds or tax residents to obtain its portion of the funding. He noted that communities nationwide now have funding that was made available to them through the State and Local Fiscal Recovery program created in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and through other federal funding programs already established or in the planning phase.


AT&T Hopes Indiana Public Private Partnerships Will Be the First of Many