Tech Department’s Broadband Contracts Secure Materials to Build Network

Two new contracts are moving California closer to its goal of delivering affordable high-speed Internet statewide.

The California Department of Technology (CDT) has awarded two contracts to vendors that total nearly a quarter of a billion dollars — and will enable the state to provide the materials needed to construct 3,000 miles of broadband infrastructure.

The contracts combined amount to nearly $225 million and will let California “fulfill material orders on an as-needed basis for the next four years,” Amy Norris, CDT deputy director of communications, told Industry Insider — California. CDT awarded Graybar Electric Company a contract valued at slightly more than $111 million, to provide conduits, vaults and construction hardware. CDT awarded Anixter a contract valued at slightly more than $113.5 million, to provide optical fiber. These contracts, Norris said, only cover the availability of materials, noting the state will do a separate procurement for logistics services. In a statement, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said providing broadband is vital to the state’s success.

“Access to high-speed Internet can mean the difference between launching a successful career and being without work,” Newsom said. “Once constructed, this network will be the largest in the world — and our action today will make the promise of broadband for all a reality.”

Issues with the supply chain and broadband projects nationwide, the governor’s office said in a news release Friday, have generated competition for the materials the state needs. The state’s Invitation for Bid was a “proactive step,” it said, to ensure the needed supplies would be ready at a pre-negotiated price. Government Operations Agency Secretary Amy Tong called this a “critical first step” toward ensuring the state has those supplies. “This fiber will be the backbone of the middle-mile network, which will bring access to unserved and underserved Californians so they can participate equally in digital society,” Tong said in a statement.

CDT’s awards are part of the state’s Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative, and the first step in developing a network that will deliver high-speed Internet to underserved areas regardless of their technology — and on “equal economic and service terms,” per the news release. The term “middle-mile network” refers to the lines of high-capacity fiber that can carry large quantities of data longer distances at faster speeds among local networks; it’s the actual physical infrastructure needed to bridge local and global networks and is a vital part of California’s Broadband for All initiative. The awards, the governor’s office added, are part of a “comprehensive and long-term approach to tackling the broadband infrastructure deficiencies” that impact rural and low-income communities.

CDT Acting Director Russ Nichols, who is chair of the Middle Mile Advisory Committee, said the projects will begin soon, indicating in a statement officials will continue working with the California Department of Transportation to begin fiber installation “as soon as possible.” The build-out of the middle-mile network is anticipated to be done by December 2026.