Governor Cooper Announces $30 million to Expand Internet Access in Rural Areas of North Carolina

Nearly $30 million will go to fund 18 broadband infrastructure projects with a goal of connecting 15,965 households and 703 businesses in rural North Carolina to high-speed internet, Governor Cooper announced. The grants are part of the 2020 Special Supplementary Round of the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Grant program and will be distributed through the NC Department of Information Technology (NCDIT) Broadband Infrastructure Office (BIO). The GREAT program provides matching grants to internet service providers and electric membership cooperatives that compete for funding to expand high-speed internet service. For this special supplementary round, projects in Tier 1, Tier 2 and rural census tracts of Tier 3 counties were eligible.