Comporium won a grant to increase broadband speeds in some areas of Transylvania County, NC via a $2.8 million grant from North Carolina’s Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Program. The improvements will require a total of more than $7 million to complete.
The grant will help bring 1 Gbps service to more than 800 customers. It will feature construction of 105 miles of fiber in partnership with the Haywood Electric Membership Corp. The project is expected to take two years from the start date, which has not yet been established.
Transylvania County Manager Jaime Laughter said that the need to reach more homes with broadband has become apparent during the pandemic. Broadband is expected to improve the county’s economic development, education and health systems.
“Access to broadband is more important than ever, and Comporium continues to seek ways to extend its cutting-edge services to improve life in Transylvania County,” Shelia Carland, Director and City Executive for Comporium’s Transylvania County service area, said in a press release. “Comporium is committed to providing a state-of-the-art network for the communities we serve, and partnerships like this one with Haywood EMC and the State of North Carolina help us ensure that fewer people fall behind because of a technology gap.”
Comporium, which is a 126-year-old company, added three products to its portfolio in December. Comporium Voice is a unified communications platform, Comporium Business Class Security provides corporate security and Comporium Teams Voice provides a number of advanced services based on Microsoft Teams.
Last May, Comporium introduced Stream TV, which the company said eventually would replace its traditional cable TV service. The app enables television to be accessed from Streaming devices (including Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV and Android TV); tablets and smartphones; computers and some smart TVs.
