Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

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.

President Joe Biden announced that his administration would spend more than $42 billion to expand high-speed internet access across the US. The White House estimates the program will help over 8.5 million households and small businesses.

As they begin a comprehensive effort to convince the country that “Bidenomics” is working, President Joe Biden and his allies are gleefully needling Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) for celebrating Alabama’s receipt of federal funds to expand rural access to high-speed internet, money that came from a bill President Biden signed and Sen Tuberville, like most Republicans, voted against. It’s not an uncommon story these days; the administration is spreading a huge amount of federal funding around the cou

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.

Aside from the incumbent operators, there are plenty of smaller broadband players striving to make a name for themselves. But how can broadband providers use branding to stand out from the rest of the crowd? Three providers have shared their reasons behind their branding decisions:

The Vermont Community Broadband Board announced that the state will receive $229 million in federal funding from a White House initiative to expand high-speed broadband access. That figure is some $50 million more than state officials had anticipated — good news for the effort to wire up rural Vermont. In the lead-up to the announcement, officials worried that Vermont would get too small a piece of the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program pie.

Susan Corbett, the founder of Maine’s National Digital Equity Center (NDEC), lives in one of America’s most remote rural regions. The population density is under 10 people per square mile. She knows first-hand how fast her community can tumble without a safety net. When the pandemic’s shelter-in-place order went into effect in 2020, Corbett and her team witnessed the severe isolation and loneliness of many elderly people in her community. The Digital Equity Center responded quickly.

Computer Reach, which employs 24 full and part-time employees and has an annual budget of $580,000, provides refurbished laptops and computer literacy training to people most in need. Richard King Mellon Foundation, PNC Foundation, Eden Hall Foundation, EQT Foundation, and Pittsburgh Foundation are among Computer Reach’s supporters. The need for laptops in poor areas far outstrips the availability of computers: social service agencies identified some 2,500 candidates for Computer Reach’s computers and digital help, but the nonprof

The Montana Broadband Office's Digital Opportunity Plan will guide the state’s efforts to narrow the digital divide and provide all Montanans with affordable high-speed broadband, adequate access to devices, and the digital skills necessary to access the internet and its many services. The state's plan serves as a guide to Montana's work toward universal broadband.

Hartford (VT) residents at long last have a new internet provider in town, ECFiber. It is Vermont’s first Communications Union District, a community-driven telecommunications operation. ECFiber already has 8,000 residential and business customers on over 1,500 miles of network around Vermont’s Upper Valley. The company will continue the build-out this summer by giving new rural customers broadband service to houses in member towns. Officials said they expect over 18,000 customers on the network. However, there is still more work to be done.