Obama announces $1 billion in broadband projects

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Private companies and public institutions will be in charge of carrying out the projects. The White House estimates that about 5,000 jobs will be created through $795 million in government grants and loans and more than $200 million in outside investments.

The amount invested is not necessarily proportional to how many people are benefiting. A nearly $27 million grant project from the Iowa Health System could benefit up to 1.7 million people, while another $31.6 million grant and loan project in rural West Virginia's Hardy County will could benefit up to 14,000 people, according to the White House.

The projects address needs for so-called "middle-mile" projects that don't directly provide Internet access to customers, but provide a backbone to which private companies, municipal and state governments can connect to provide service. Other projects include high-speed internet access to libraries and other public venues.

The White House says the grants represent a part of the $7.2 billion in grants and loans provided by economic stimulus legislation passed last year known as the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Total allocation of funds, including the announced grants, includes $2.7 billion through more than 260 projects.

The Hardy County project will serve as a "turning point for underserved rural mountain communities," the White House said. Hardy Telecommunications, Inc will use the funds to bring fiber optic cable directly to homes and businesses.

The biggest project on the list will not benefit one specific area, but will help connect 30 existing research and educational networks, enabling advanced network features for more than 100,000 community institutions across all 50 states, the White House said. The $62.5 million government grant, with an additional $34.3 million match provided University Corporation for Adavanced Internet Development will fund the United States Unified Community Anchor Network project.

The most expensive project for a specific area will be for western Massachusetts. A $74.3 million effort will lay down more than 1,300 miles of new fiber optic cable. More than 1 million people stand to benefit from the new high speed network, the White House said. The quasi-public Massachusetts Technology Cooperative, which said in its latest annual report that it had been "aggressively pursuing" federal funds, will put up $26.2 million and the government will provide $45.4 million in grants and loans.

Another project east of Atlanta stands to benefit a much smaller number of people for nearly the same cost to the government. The $48.1 million awarded to the Wilkes Telephone & Electric Co. is expected to serve about 20,300 people by delivering fiber optic cable directly to homes, businesses and institutions across three counties.

One broadband project in largely rural New Hampshire will pit a university and its partners against the state's largest, but struggling communications company. The project will create a fiber optic backbone through a technology known as "dark fiber" that will allow service providers to sell directly to customers.

The $44.5 million grant to the University System of New Hampshire could impact up to 1 million of the 1.3 million people in the state, according to the White House. Fairpoint Communications said earlier this year it would spend at least $56.4 million on broadband expansion, with another $10.5 million needed to expand access to 95 percent. The company is currently struggling to exit bankruptcy.

Click here to see the full White House roster of projects announced.