Charter bagged eight out of 33 broadband funding awards made by the state of North Carolina yesterday, making the company the biggest winner measured by number of awards. A total of nearly $80 million was awarded.
Also winning funding were Brightspeed (four awards), Lumos (three awards), and AT&T (two awards), along with numerous smaller companies, including smal incumbent telcos such as Star Telephone Membership Corp., cable companies such as Cherokee Cablevision, utility companies such as Blue Ridge Mountain EMC, competitive carriers such as Ting Fiber and others.
The money will go toward the cost of making high-speed broadband available to nearly 26,000 households and 862 businesses in 33 counties. Funding was awarded on a county-by-county basis.
Awards were made by the North Carolina Department of Information Technology through the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) program. The awards are contingent on final executed grant agreements with awardees.
Competition for funding was steep in this funding round. NCDIT received a total of 104 eligible applications for 58 counties, according to a press release.
“Grants are being awarded to the highest-scoring internet provider that applied in each county based on the number of households and businesses they propose to serve, the average cost to serve those locations, and the speeds offered, among other criteria required by law,” the press release explained.
North Carolina has now awarded all $350 million of American Rescue Plan Act funding that was allocated to the GREAT program. Over $269 million in awards were made in 2022 through the program.
Charter won a large portion of funding awarded in 2022.
A full list of companies that received North Carolina broadband funding yesterday, including the county or counties that each company will serve, can be found in this press release.
