New Rural Broadband Deployment Model: MCNC Partners with Facebook on North Carolina Build

Facebook and MCNC, the non-profit operator of the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN) are “co-investing” to build a high-speed fiber network interconnecting the rural North Carolina communities of Dobson and Forest City. The latter community is home to a huge data center owned by Facebook. MCNC provides backbone connectivity throughout large portions of North Carolina, including areas where it’s difficult to make a business case for fiber deployment. Over the years MCNC has received funding from the broadband stimulus program, the Golden LEAF Rural Broadband Initiative and other sources. The Golden LEAF Foundation is a rather unique non-profit economic development organization that was funded, in part, from a 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers to assist tobacco-dependent, economically distressed and rural communities across the state.