Brightspeed won awards to cover some of the costs of bringing broadband to 11 North Carolina counties yesterday. A total of $29 million in funding was awarded for 17 counties in total.
Other companies awarded funding include Windstream (two grants for two counties), Charter, French Broad Electric Membership Corp., Wilkes Telephone Membership, and Skyrunner.
Collectively, the awardees will contribute an additional $12.5 million toward total project costs of $41 million.
The awards were made through the state’s Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program. The program is funded through the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
North Carolina Broadband Awards
The news follows another announcement about awards made in the CAB program earlier this month. Brightspeed was the big winner in that announcement as well, garnering funding for nine counties.
Although the state of North Carolina did not release the value of individual awards in either announcement, a release from Brightspeed reveals that the company won $31.2 million in the two recent CAB award rounds.
The company also noted that it will contribute more than $13 million of its own toward total project costs.
In addition, Brightspeed noted that it has received approximately $218.6 million from the state of North Carolina through the CAB and Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) programs.
All told, the awards to Brightspeed will cover some of the costs of bringing broadband to nearly 99,000 North Carolina locations in 41 counties. Brightspeed also plans to make high-speed broadband available to approximately 800,000 additional locations in the state.
In announcing the latest batch of CAB awards yesterday, NCDIT Secretary and State Chief Information Officer Teena Piccione said the state would be making additional broadband funding awards this month.
A complete list of North Carolina broadband awards made this week is as follows:
- Brightspeed: Caldwell, Carteret, Caswell, Edgecombe, Greene, Onslow, Pitt, Sampson, Tyrrell, Vance, and Wilson counties
- Charter: Lincoln County
- French Broad Electric Membership Corp.: Mitchell County
- Skyrunner: McDowell County
- Wilkes Telephone Membership Corporation/River Street Networks: Wilkes County
- Windstream: Anson and Davidson counties
Additional information about North Carolina broadband, including links to state funding resources, awards made and state-specific Telecompetitor coverage, can be found on Telecompetitor’s Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
