Us government grants

Alcatel announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Services (RUS) has awarded "Technical Acceptance" for the Alcatel 7340 Fiber-to-the-User (FTTU) solution. RUS oversees a multi-billion dollar budget designed to encourage the availability of telecommunication services in rural or under-served areas. This RUS endorsement means that rural independent telephone operating companies (IOCs) will qualify for subsidization of their fiber optic based service rollouts if they deploy the Alcatel FTTU solution. The RUS administers multiple programs intended to improve the quality of life in rural America. The Broadband Pilot Program--which funds projects that increase the rate of technology deployment to rural areas--is unique, in that it increased the maximum number of people in an area considered rural from 5000 up to 20,000, enabling considerably more small towns to benefit from high-speed services.

FTTU is an all-optical. communications network that converts electronic signals for the "triple play" of services--voice, video and data--into light, and sends them through micron-thin glass strands. The Alcatel 7340 FTTU platform is a standard's based solution that delivers high quality voice, interactive video supporting hundreds of analog and digital channels and Internet access at speeds thousands of times faster than dial-up modem service.