Gov. Roy Cooper announced more than $206 million in grants for high-speed internet access in rural areas in 69 counties across North Carolina. He says nearly 85,000 households and 2,400 businesses will have access to high-speed internet services through the Growing Rural Economies Access to Technology grants or GREAT. The program provides grants to unserved and underserved areas through matching grants to internet service providers and electric cooperatives.
“High-speed internet access is critical for people to work, learn, access telehealth and connect with one another,” said Governor Cooper. “Thanks to this significant GREAT grant award funding, many more North Carolina families and small business owners will have the tools they need to succeed in today’s digital world.”
The internet service providers who receive grants must participate in the program that provides eligible low-income households with discounted high-speed service of $30 per month or a comparable low-cost program. Cooper made the announcement of the grants at the Mebane Public Library where fiber optic internet provider Lumos received a grant of more than $7 million to provide high-speed service to 2,600 households and businesses in Alamance and Randolph counties.
The N.C. Department of Information Technology’s (NCDIT) Broadband Infrastructure Office, part of the Division of Broadband and Digital Equity, today awarded GREAT grants to expand broadband infrastructure to the following internet service providers:
- Alamance County: NC Communications Advanced Serv (Lumos)
- Ashe County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Beaufort County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Bladen County: ATMC (Focus Broadband)
- Buncombe County: Frontier Communications of The Carolinas (Frontier)
- Burke County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Caldwell County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Camden County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Carteret County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Caswell County: Zitel LLC
- Catawba County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Chatham County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Cherokee County: Blue Ridge Mountain EMC (Blue Ridge Mountain EMC)
- Columbus County: ATMC (Focus Broadband)
- Craven County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Cumberland County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Currituck County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Dare County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Duplin County: ATMC (Focus Broadband)
- Durham County: Frontier Communications of The Carolinas (Frontier)
- Edgecombe County: Cloudwyze, Inc. (Cloudwyze)
- Forsyth County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Franklin County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Gates County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Graham County: Zitel LLC
- Granville County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Greene County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Guilford County: Bellsouth Telecommunications, LLC (AT&T North Carolina)
- Harnett County: Cloudwyze, Inc. (Cloudwyze)
- Haywood County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)
- Henderson County: Cebridge Acquisition, LP (Optimum)
- Hertford County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Hoke County: ATMC (Focus Broadband)
- Jackson County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)
- Johnston County: Cloudwyze, Inc. (Cloudwyze)
- Jones County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)
- Lee County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)
- Macon County: Frontier Communications of The Carolinas (Frontier)
- Martin County: Cloudwyze, Inc. (Cloudwyze)
- McDowell County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)
- Mitchell County: French Broad Electric Membership Corp.
- Montgomery County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Moore County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Nash County: Cloudwyze, Inc. (Cloudwyze)
- Northampton County: Zitel LLC
- Onslow County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Pamlico County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)
- Pasquotank County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Pender County: ATMC (Focus Broadband)
- Perquimans County: ATMC (Focus Broadband)
- Person County: Zitel LLC
- Pitt County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Randolph County: NC Communications Advanced Serv (Lumos)
- Richmond County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)
- Robeson County: ATMC (Focus Broadband)
- Rutherford County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)
- Sampson County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Scotland County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)
- Surry County: Zitel LLC
- Swain County: Zito West Holding, LLC (Zito Media)
- Tyrrell County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Vance County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Wake County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)
- Warren County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)
- Washington County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Wayne County: Nfinity Link Communications Inc. (InfinityLink)
- Wilkes County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Wilson County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)
- Yancey County: French Broad Electric Membership Corp
“We are excited to be awarding this unprecedented amount of funding to bring high-speed internet access to such a large number of residents and businesses across the state,” said NCDIT Secretary and State Chief Information Officer Jim Weaver. “These funds will go a long way in closing the digital divide by bringing equitable access to both rural and urban communities.”