News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 16, 2000
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136
Alt Contact:  Sung Yang, Office of Trade and Economic Development, 360-725-4024

Three rural areas to receive $2.5 million to develop telecom facilities, Locke announces

OLYMPIA - Three rural Washington telecommunications pilot projects will receive $2.5 million to help pay for fiber optic cables and other state-of-the art telecommunications infrastructure to help attract new industries and create jobs, Gov. Gary Locke announced today.

The three telecommunications projects are in Mount Vernon and Skagit and Chelan counties. The projects were approved today by the state Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB).

Locke said the three telecommunications projects will create an estimated 594 full-time jobs within three years. Eventually the projects are expected to create 1,750 full-time jobs.

"It is difficult and expensive outside the Puget Sound region to get the kind of services that high technology companies require to locate or expand their business operations," Locke said.

"Rural communities want to share in the growth and prosperity of an urban information age-based economy. The money approved by CERB, along with other public and private funds, will help to bring technical telecommunications infrastructure, such as bandwidth, redundancy and other services, up to par with urban areas," the governor added.

The CERB's telecommunications pilot projects are part of Locke's Economic Vitality Initiative for rural Washington. As part of the initiative, he has advanced legislative and executive initiatives to streamline regulation, create competition in telecommunications services and promote investment.

In addition, Locke and the CERB have encouraged telecommunications pilot projects to demonstrate that rural communities can develop needed telecom infrastructures that attract high tech firms and good jobs through coordinated planning, public-private partnerships and leveraged investments.

The projects being funded are:

Completion of a redundant fiber SONET loop within the city of Mount Vernon. That will serve Independent Market Services (IMS), currently operating in Redmond, and the expansion of a local firm, WebEKG. The telecommunications improvements also will serve new businesses in the city.

Development of the 130-acre Fredonia Business Park in Skagit County's Bayview Ridge project as a 'smart park' with high capacity fiber optic cable. Other infrastructure improvements necessary for the development include roads, water supplies, sewers and power and gas lines. The improvements will directly serve EDCO, Inc., a local manufacturer unable to expand at its current location because of infrastructure limitations. The improvements also will serve new businesses.

Development of a Technology Training Center and space for the Chelan County PUD to create a telecommunications hub for broadband fiber optic lines throughout Chelan County and north-central Washington in the Port of Chelan County. The lines will be connected to fiber optic trunk lines in the Puget Sound area. The improvements will allow local technology and telecom businesses, including Pacific Aerospace & Electric, Northwest Telephone, Inc. and Computer Works to expand operations. There also will be space for technology/telecom incubator businesses to have access to training and technology workforce resources. The improvements also will help attract new businesses.
Locke said that every dollar invested by the CERB produces eight dollars in private capital investments for buildings and facilities from other public and private sources.

The governor said CERB also will play a role in the recent Qwest/U.S. West rate case settlement that earmarks $5 million for economic development-driven telecommunications infrastructure projects.

In preparation for implementation of the settlement agreement, a solicitation letter will be sent to prospective applicants on Nov. 20. Interested parties are invited to submit letters of interest to apply. Qwest grant funds are available for telecommunications projects that advance the broad public interest and provide community, statewide or intrastate-regional benefits.

Persons seeking more information should contact Sung Yang, Office of Trade and Economic Development at 360-725-4024 or at [email protected].

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