WRAL

A new effort to install a fiber network could soon bring high speed broadband throughout Rocky Mount (NC). But some living in rural areas outside the city limits have concerns that the digital divide in their neighborhoods will keep growing. On May 20, city leaders announced telecommunications company Metronet would be spending $20 million to lay a fiber network throughout the city limits, bringing high speed internet as soon as next spring. While Rocky Mount celebrated, neighboring communities said they're worried about being left behind.

Wilson's (NC) community broadband, Greenlight, has stepped in to help teachers in the wake of COVID-19. Greenlight laid more than 3,000 feet of fiber optic cable to connect students and teachers and has added 150 new customers since the outbreak started. And they've seen outbound traffic skyrocket. Between Feb and April, outbound traffic increased by 23 percent in the 9 o'clock hour and 44 percent at noon. This is likely due to the rise of online conference calls.

North Carolinians aren’t the quickest adopters when it comes to broadband. Despite the fact that around 94.8 percent of North Carolinians have access to high-speed internet, only 59.4 percent of households adopt it, according to the Federal Communications Commission. “It’s pretty low. That’s a good 40 percent of the population that has access but is still not adopting,” said Amy Huffman, NC Department of Information Technology’s digital equity and digital inclusion program manager. It affects rural and urban areas equally. “That’s a big problem,” she said.

Recent research from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology found that one in every 10 students lacks internet access at home, which makes it hard for them to complete homework assignments outside of school. "If we have a cohort of 10 to 15 percent of students who are in the homework gap now, then how will those students be able to compete in a digital economy in 10 or 15 years?" asked Amy Huffman, a research policy specialist for the NC Broadband Infrastructure office. The state is stepping in with a response to this problem that could eventually close the gap.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai joined NC Lt. Gov. Dan Forest and other state leaders to celebrate a goal more than 10 years in the making: connecting every classroom in the state with broadband Internet access. The School Connectivity Initiative launched in 2006 with a number of targets, including broadband in every class. Forest said it will happen in 2018, making North Carolina the first in the nation to achieve that goal. Chairman Pai spoke about the partnership the FCC had with North Carolina in making this goal happen.

[Editorial] Lt. Gov. Dan Forest (R-NC) hosted a made-for-a-campaign-commercial media event with Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai and a bevy of Republican state legislators at Graham High School in Alamance County to boast about North Carolina being the first state to connect every classroom to high-speed broadband. It is no small achievement. However, it’s not quite his to brag about. If Forest’s fellow Republicans had their way, there would be nothing to celebrate. In 2007 only one Republican, former state Sen.