Fatbeam LLC, a Post Falls-based provider of broadband fiber-optic networks, has won contracts in Montana and Tacoma that have combined value of more than $3 million.

To serve the new markets, Fatbeam plans initially to invest about $2.5 million in infrastructure improvements and a network acquisition.

In the Butte, Mont., school district, Fatbeam recently won a 10-year, $2 million-plus contract that will involve building a high-capacity, fiber-optic network and delivering fiber services to school facilities, the company says.

Fatbeam says the school district is able to upgrade the fiber-optic connectivity for its schools by using funds from the Federal Communications Commission's E-Rate program, which finances essential connectivity upgrades for schools and libraries.

Separately, the company says it's purchasing a 25-mile, fiber-optic network in Tacoma from Puyallup-based EMAN Networks. Fatbeam plans to upgrade the Tacoma network to serve the Franklin Pierce School District, under a five-year contract valued at $1 million, says Mark Lathrop, Fatbeam vice president of finance and operations. The contract has two five-year renewal options, he adds.

He says the company plans to invest about $850,000 in the Tacoma network purchase, equipment upgrades, and to add three miles of fiber optics to the existing network. With the upgrades, Fatbeam can offer data transport services on the network to business, health care, education, telecommunications, and government customers.

"They're adding two additional school sites in June that require the extra build-out," Lathrop says. "We've already started the upgrades."

Greg Green, Fatbeam president, says the Tacoma network will extend the company's presence on the West Side, in addition to the company's construction of a new broadband fiber-optic network in Centralia. It also has built networks in Yakima, Sunnyside, Cowiche, and Medical Lake.

In Butte, Fatbeam expects to construct more than 16 miles of fiber network.

Fatbeam's total amount of initial investment in construction and infrastructure work in Butte could reach $1.6 million, but that doesn't include a contract amount still being finalized with the Montana Economic Revitalization and Development Institute, Lathrop says.

MERDI offers energy research, technology transfer, and economic development services.

Fatbeam has worked with MERDI to develop the Butte fiber-optic network plans, the company says in a press release. It will use MERDI resources to deliver high-capacity Internet bandwidth to the school district from MERDI's data and colocation center in Butte. The MERDI and Fatbeam agreement is expected to provide services to government and nonprofit enterprises in the city.

Fatbeam was founded in mid-2010 by Shawn Swanby, owner of Ednetics Inc., and Green. Headquartered at 971 S. Clearwater Loop in Post Falls, the company currently employs five people.