Grant to help provide broadband access to 2,972 locations in Oglethorpe
One word came to Nikki Hughes’ mind when she heard that Spectrum will receive $7.9 million to build out broadband infrastructure in Oglethorpe County.
“Awesome,” said Hughes, who has been an outspoken proponent for improved broadband coverage. “If done correctly, this will do amazing things for the county.”
Gov. Brian Kemp’s office awarded the grant to Spectrum last week as part of $234 million from Georgia’s Capital Projects Fund Grant Program. Spectrum, in partnership with Oglethorpe County, will use those funds to provide internet access to 2,972 locations.
Under the terms of the grant, Spectrum will receive the money from the state and must complete the project by Dec. 31, 2026. Spectrum also must contribute an additional percentage to the total, “likely 10-30%,” Oglethorpe County Economic Development chair Will Brown said.
“This is the biggest thing to ever happen to Oglethorpe, as far as internet,” said Brown, who also represents District 4 on the Board of Commissioners. “Since Windstream originally came to the county, there's nothing that’s been this great.”
Josh Hildebrandt, the director of Broadband Initiatives with the Georgia Technology Authority, said while this includes “a large amount of Oglethorpe County, it does not include all of Oglethorpe County.”
He said additional grant funding will come from the state, possibly as early as next year, so “every single location in Georgia” will receive high-speed internet.
Hildebrandt said there will be a due diligence phase of 60 days with Spectrum and the other internet service providers awarded grant money last week where “they'll have to sign a contract with the state that will say, ‘Yes, we will accept these funds under these terms to be used towards this project exclusively.’ ”
Oglethorpe County applied for this round of funding after the state opened the portal for applications in September. The announcement marked an end to a string of bad news for the county and its quest for increased broadband coverage.
The county was named the country’s first broadband-ready community in 2018, but it missed out on the state’s initial round of broadband money last February, when Georgia awarded $409 million to fund 49 projects in 70 counties.
The county entered into a performance and accountability contract with Paladin Wireless in 2020, but the EDA canceled that in September when the company failed to meet the deal’s requirements. It had just 22 subscribers in August.
“Since we didn't get the last round, this is pretty much the focus,” Brown said. “Our internet plan, since we've been struggling with Paladin and the wireless project that we initially put on to solve the issue, this had become our top priority, because this was our best bet to affect the most people.”
Hughes, who runs Camp Critter Wildlife Rescue from her family’s home on Devil’s Pond Road near Highway 22, confronted the board of commissioners about the lack of broadband at its October meeting. She said she and others in the area have no internet access, making it tough to operate her nonprofit and to provide additional educational opportunities for her son Everette, a third-grader at Oglethorpe County Elementary School, and daughter Scarlett, who is in first grade at Oglethorpe County Primary School.
“When we had to do virtual learning (during the pandemic), we did it through the mail,” Hughes said.
Other residents throughout the county let their thoughts be known at an EDA meeting in November.
“If you think about it, the initial Internet access is great, but the state pumping this much funding into broadband is like rural electrification of the ’30s, pretty much,” Brown said. “Well, that's how I look at it. It's not necessarily something that we provide, but it is a utility, and it's something that everybody has to have these days.”
Staff writer Erin Kenney contributed to this article.