ANN ARBOR – Merit Network announced Thursday that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has issued the REACH-3MC Round I project a no cost-extension.

The announcement comes following Merit’s December 31, 2012, completed milestones report, which stated that 98 percent of all strand, conduit and cable had been deployed on the 1,017-mile fiber-optic construction project. With the lion’s share of the infrastructure in place, Merit has also connected 53 Community Anchor Institutions of the 57 to be connected as part of the project.

In January 2010, the Merit-led REACH-3MC Round I project received ARRA funding through the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program to help construct a large fiber-optic network extension in rural and underserved areas of Michigan.

The NTIA oversees and administers BTOP. With the grant award of federal funding, the NTIA set a specific award period for REACH-3MC Round I project completion ending on December 31, 2012.

Merit was informed early this week that based on the substantial progress made thus far, the NTIA has granted the REACH-3MC Round I project a no-cost extension to complete the project before September 30, 2013.

Prior to the extension, the federal funds originally committed to the project would have expired on December 31, 2012. The no-cost extension means that Merit can continue to use the federal funding committed to REACH-3MC to finish the Round I project. No new federal funding will be expended on the project.

“Our plan is to have all remaining construction finished no later than January 31,” Karen Smith, CFO and REACH-3MC project co-manager for Merit. “When these last components have been completed, Merit will begin its NITA grant closeout work and complete a review of the infrastructure installed, which will be finalized no later than June 2013.”

“The remaining construction items to be completed in the coming weeks include the pulling of approximately 30 miles of fiber-optic cable through infrastructure that is already installed, connecting the 4 remaining CAIs, and finishing fiber splicing, lighting, and continuity testing on various short segments throughout the build,” said Bob Stovall, vice president of network operations and engineering and REACH-3MC project co-manager for Merit.