Broadband internet continues to expand in Oglethorpe County with internet service providers Kinetic and Charter Spectrum now offering high-speed internet access in the areas where Paladin Wireless used to operate.
Despite receiving $350,000 from the county in 2019, Paladin repeatedly missed deadlines and subscriber goals, making it clear that Oglethorpe County was “not a priority,” Commissioner and Economic Development Authority Chairman Will Brown said.
After years of trying to make progress with Paladin before filing a lawsuit — and now nearly a year since official mediation began — a final court judgment was reached in March. That judgment was for $348,055.55 plus legal costs, which will come through repossession of equipment involved to recover the funds originally allotted to Paladin.
“We’re doing our best to recover what input we had in the Paladin project that is recoverable,” Brown said.
Despite setbacks with Paladin, the county is still working on several paths to expansion.
“Even though the Paladin thing didn’t work out the way we wanted it to, we still secured tens of millions of dollars from the federal government and the Georgia state government to solve this issue,” Brown said. “The future is bright, at least for most of the county.”
However, like other rural counties in Georgia, gaining access to high-speed internet comes with challenges.
“We don’t get clear updates from (Kinetic/Windsteam) or Charter,” Brown said. “They don’t share build out plans because they don’t want to be held to them.”
Each internet service provider (ISP) has different timeline obligations depending on which funding grant they are trying to fill, Brown said. Both Charter and Kinetic have been awarded funding from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and the Capital Project Fund (CPF), and are expected to finish building out in 2026.
Randy Bramlett, a Hargrove Crossing resident and current T-Mobile customer, has noticed Charter installing fiber optic — a type of a high-speed internet connection — in his neighborhood. Charter has been the provider for his office on Arnoldsville Road for several years, and he has had no complaints.
“That’s the reason I am optimistic that whatever they have in my neighborhood will be good for the internet,” Bramlett said.
From Kinetic to Paladin to T-mobile, Bramlett has been climbing the high-speed internet ladder for years.
Bramlett’s service with Paladin was terminated in March, after at least three years of being with the company. He said he’s happy with T-Mobile — which offers several different packages in his area — but is excited to see what Charter has to offer.
“I’m making little progress steps to better internet,” Bramlett said. “Now, it’ll be interesting to see what Charter Spectrum might be offering and kind of how it would perform.”
Bramlett said broadband expansion in the county is progressing quickly. Of course, it depends on the area.
High-speed internet has mostly reached the south and west side of Oglethorpe County, while the more rural northeastern areas will likely still struggle with access, Brown said. Nonetheless, ensuring high-speed internet access for as many residents as possible is still the priority.
“As far as what is economically possible with the programs that are available to us, we’re doing whatever we can to connect as many people as we can without spending taxpayer money anymore,” Brown said.
The next step for broadband expansion in Oglethorpe County is securing funding for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, which would help fill the gaps in areas that remain unconnected.
The ISPs building out through RDOF and CPF are already beginning to reach locations beyond the originally required addresses, giving more residents access as those networks expand, Brown said.
“(High-speed internet) is just getting to be a utility; it’s no longer a luxury,” he said. “It’s one more barrier to entry for economics that we can do something about.”