County

A $6.8 million public–private partnership between Windstream's broadband provider, Kinetic, and Bullitt County (KY) will connect some 6,300 homes and businesses with high-speed fiber internet for the first time. The project, expected to start in early October, will provide internet speeds up to 8 Gbps to eligible homes and business in several parts of the county, including the unincorporated communities of Cedar Grove, Solitude and Brownington. Under the partnership, the county will commit $2 million from its general fund to support the project.

altafiber's gigabit broadband service is available to most single-family homes and business addresses in the Kentucky counties of Boone, Campbell, and Kenton. The projects were made possible through altafiber (formerly known as Cincinnati Bell) public-private partnerships that were announced in 2021: 

The newly released Virginia proposed Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant rules highlight an issue that was included in the original grant rules. The BEAD program gives significant power to local governments through local letters of support.

123NET and Allegan County (MI) have been awarded a $65 million project to construct an open-access, carrier-neutral fiber network. This county-wide broadband project will begin construction in mid-August 2023. The Allegan County Board of Commissioners and 123NET established a public-private partnership earlier in 2023 and applied for the Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks (ROBIN) grant together.

A $10.3 million public-private partnership between Chattooga County (GA) and fiber provider Windstream will provide broadband access to 3,400 addresses in the county. Key communities covered by the agreement, which will feature 320 miles of fiber cable, are Summerville, Trion, Lyerly, and Menlo. The partnership includes $3.1 million from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Program, which is part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Windstream will invest $7.2 million and cover cost overruns. Work on the project is expected to be completed in 2024.

Lumos launched a new fiber-optic broadband network in Orange County, North Carolina.  The previously announced partnership between Lumos and Orange County remains one of the largest public-private partnerships for fiber infrastructure in North Carolina’s history. It was made possible by significant investments from Lumos and an Orange County American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fund award and will reach more than 6,300 unserved homes in the County. Lumos has also committed millions more to increase the scope of the project, enabling it to serve an additional 22,000 addresses.

Partnering with counties is an asset for electric co-operatives seeking capital for the matching requirement in the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, said an expert. Darren Farnan, chief operating officer of rural electric co-op United Fiber. He said that Missouri counties used Capital Project Fund (CPF) and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) money to help with the co-op’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) application. Counties have the same goal as co-ops to connect every address to high-speed internet, said Farnan.

When it comes to connecting residents to broadband, counties need to speak up with detailed information about their unserved and underserved areas and work closely with their state broadband directors to get their fair share of federal dollars. “Get involved — go to your state broadband director – get to know them,” said Luis Acuña, Southwest regional director for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). “They can weave your needs into their plan.

FOCUS Broadband has completed work to bring fiber optic high-speed internet to rural communities near Magnolia, Rose Hill, and Teachey (NC). These projects were made possible through two grants totaling more than $2.5 million dollars awarded in 2020 through North Carolina's Growing Rural Economies through Access to Technology (GREAT) Grant Program as well as the Special Supplementary Round of the GREAT Grant Program. FOCUS Broadband contributed more than $1 million dollars in matching funds to bring service to these rural areas in Duplin County.

Some 8,200 homes, businesses and schools in unserved and underserved parts of Lumpkin County (GA) will, for the first time, be eligible for high-speed fiber internet. The $20.4 million project, to provide fiber broadband to Dahlonega and throughout the county, is expected to be completed in 2024. It is a result of a public–private partnership between the county and Kinetic. The county will use about $6.9 million in state grant money from the federal government.