Byline: Tom Sowa
Oct. 13--A $529,000 federal grant will bring wireless connectivity to businesses, schools and residents in broadband-starved Springdale, Wash. The grant, announced last week, comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Community Connect program. The money will build a new Springdale community center with a 10-machine computer lab, plus develop a city-wide wireless network, said Jeff Tamietti, the CEO of Spokane-based startup wireless Internet provider EcliptixNet. Springdale received the grant because officials demonstrated the town, with a population of about 280, has no other broadband service and has a relatively low per-capita income, said Tamietti. It all started last year with Tamietti, an Air Force veteran, noticing the federal grant program. He contacted a number of Eastern Washington communities about applying. "Springdale was the one that showed the most interest. They got the idea," said Tamietti. EcliptixNet, started two years ago, will bring broadband wireless into Springdale and build out a network that has both a free and subscriber service.
The free access includes the new community center, which will cost about half the total grant, said Tamietti. It should be open by January 2007, he added. City municipal departments, Springdale's school district and its health clinic will also get free service. City residents and other Stevens County residents within a seven-mile radius will have the option of subscribing to the service, he said.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
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