Grant extensions provided by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration will allow the Virgin Islands Next Generation Network to close out its territorywide broadband initiative by the end of the year, company officials reported at viNGN’s Wednesday board meeting on St. Thomas.

The $117 million broadband initiative is funded primarily from NTIA grants, along with a $32 million match from the government. Officials from viNGN have said all fiber optic cable installation and construction needed to be complete by the end of July for the project to stay within the federal grant guidelines, and during this week’s board meeting, it was said that the grant extensions would allow for all remaining program activities to wrap up by Dec. 31, with all close out activities – including the process of seeking federal reimbursements for project expenses – running through March of 2014.

The NTIA has approved the extension of grants awarded for the construction of public computer centers, which will allow viNGN to continue offering free digital literacy and other related training at its PCCs and online, according to viNGN President Lawrence J. Kupfer.

Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting, Kupfer and viNGN Board Chairman Gov. John deJongh Jr. also announced that viNGN has connected its first community anchor institution and public computer center – the Athalie McFarlane Petersen Public Library – which will be served from the network’s high speed fiber access point in Frederiksted.

Community anchor institutions include schools, universities, medical facilities, public safety offices and other community organizations, and viNGN officials have said they plan to connect 316 community anchor institutions throughout the territory.

The library should complete its connection to the viNGN network later this week, allowing the public to get their first glimpse at the network’s new high-speed capabilities, Kupfer said.

The next step, he added, will be continuing discussions with local internet service providers interested in hooking up to the viNGN network. Once connected, local service providers will be able to sell higher capacity internet access to their customers at a lower price, viNGN officials said.

An official ribbon cutting ceremony will be scheduled once the remaining community anchor institutions in Frederiksted have been connected.