XFN recieves $28.1 million grant from US Department of Agriculture

Mar. 7 — Xfone Inc.  (AMEX:XFN; TASE:XFN) wholly owned subsidiary  PRIDE Network Inc.  has obtained funding approval from the Broadband Initiative Program to build Fiber To The Premises (FTTP) networks in rural  Texas .

Pride Networks will receive a  $35.5 million  loan and  $28.1 million  grant from the  $7.2 billion  for two projects from the Broadband Initiative Program as part of the  US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utility Service  (RUS) program. If  Xfone  submits another application, it may increase the government loan.

Xfone  will set up a triple-play (TV, telephone, and Internet) capable network for tens of thousands of customers.

On Thursday,  Xfone  announced the sale of its controlling interest Israeli subsidiary, 018  Xfone Ltd.  to  Hezi Bezalel . for  $6.5 million . He intends to turn the company into  Israel’s  first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).

Xfone’s  share fell 8.1 percent on the  American Stock Exchange  on Friday to  $1.03 , giving a market cap of  $19 million . The share rose 39 percent on the TASE today to  NIS 4.39 .

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