Investing in Wave 7 — a community-focused broadband provider expanding high-speed internet in rural North Carolina

Connect Humanity has closed its first investment, in Wave 7 Communications, which will enable hundreds of unconnected people to gain access to the internet for the first time. For two years, LaShawn Williamson, founder and CEO of Wave 7 Communications, and her team have been building a network to provide the mostly unconnected rural community of Enfield, North Carolina with high-speed internet access that is more than three times faster than any other operator. Connect Humanity is providing a blended investment package of $350,000 to enable Wave 7 to reach 400+ additional subscribers in Enfield — almost two-thirds of the town’s population — and to advance its efforts to reach a further 1,600 households in neighboring towns. At an average of $96 per month, existing internet service offerings in the area are currently unaffordable for most people living in the community, with 37% of families living under the Federal Poverty Level. As a result, less than a third of households have an internet subscription. Wave 7 offers residents a better option, providing a wireless solution with speeds of up to 120 Mbps. Wave 7 uses a ‘pay as you go’ model, so subscribers only pay for the data that they consume. The company also provides an ‘always on’ service so that people struggling to pay bills still have a baseline level of internet access.