Three Northeast Georgia counties are among 28 counties statewide that stand to benefit from grants aimed at expanding and improving their local internet service.
Spectrum Southeast in Banks County will receive nearly $7.5 million from Georgia’s Capital Projects Fund Grant Program. The company has also been awarded nearly $18.5 million to expand its broadband internet service in Madison County.
Comcast Cable Communications in Jackson County will receive $5.3 million.
In all, the state is investing over $234 million of federal COVID relief dollars to improve connectivity in some of the state’s least connected communities.
The grant awards will be combined with capital matches from the awardees, resulting in an overall investment of almost $455 million to improve high-speed internet access in over 76,000 locations.
“High-speed internet access is critical for both academic and economic opportunities, as well as the overall quality of life. These projects announced today will go a long way to helping Georgians in some of the most unserved and underserved parts of the state become better connected,” Gov. Brian Kemp said when releasing the list of grant recipients on January 4.
Last year, the state awarded $408 million in grants from the Capital Projects Fund Grant Program. The fund was created in 2022 utilizing money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021. Approved by congressional Democrats and signed into law by President Joe Biden, ARPA provided $350 billion in additional funding for state and local governments to help them recover from the pandemic. Georgia received $4.9 billion of that.
The Governor’s Office of Planning & Budget and the Georgia Technology Authority worked together to identify the most unserved and underserved counties in the state and establish a competitive grant program.
At present, nearly $650 million in grants have been awarded to assist with projects intended to serve roughly 200,000 of the remaining 455,000 unserved locations in the Georgia.
Grant recipients include a mix of internet service providers including EMCs, large telecommunications companies, and local Georgia-based companies.
