Surfnet Communications, Inc. announced Sept. 12 it had received three new grants totaling $4.3 million in partnership with the nonprofit California Broadband Alliance (CBA) to extend fiber broadband to communities in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The grants were awarded to the CBA by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
These three grants represent the second round of grant funding received by Surfnet within the last three months. In June, Surfnet was awarded $10 million by the CPUC to extend high-speed, fiber broadband services to rural areas in Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and San Luis Obispo counties.
“We’re very excited about our new partnership with the CBA. Working together, we’re gaining momentum to provide greater access to high-speed internet to underserved communities within our service footprint,“ said Ken Nye, Surfnet’s chief operating officer. “We are committed to being the fast, reliable, local partner in the quest to build, manage and operate broadband infrastructure for rural communities in the Central Coast region.”
The additional funding from the CBA partnership will bring high-speed internet to an estimated 1,423 people in rural Santa Cruz County. The areas served by the grant are rural, mountainous communities where internet infrastructure is a challenge to build.
Surfnet says it will leverage its direct experience in mountain communities to design the infrastructure project to be resilient in the unforgiving Santa Cruz Mountains environment that frequently experiences wildfire, mudslides, snow and more.
Surfnet has already begun work on the initiative funded by the CPUC grant that was awarded in July, with the first customers expected to receive service this fall. Full implementation is expected by the end of 2026. Work in the areas covered by the three new grants is expected to begin in early 2026, with fiber service anticipated to begin in late 2026.
