By Tim Gardner
The process for securing Broadband Internet service for many residences and businesses across Avery County is proceeding at a moderate pace, but still with the likely date of December 31, 2026 when it comes to total fruition.
The Avery County Commissioners have prioritized obtaining Broadband Internet service for all the county’s residents and businesses and have used large sums of county funds and grant money to achieve that goal.
The commissioners committed $3,000,000.00 of the American Rescue Act funds it received to implement the Connectivity Access Broadband (CAB) Internet program in the county. The CAB Program is a competitive bidding program that provides an opportunity for individual North Carolina County governments to partner with the North Carolina Department of Internet Technology (NCDIT) to fund broadband infrastructure projects in unserved and underserved areas of each county.
Avery County Manager Phillip Barrier, Jr. said that the necessary paperwork to CAB Grant is nearing completion, and the County will release updates about that as they become available.
Avery County is also a beneficiary of a grant that Spectrum was awarded that will bring gigabit high-speed internet access to more than 230 homes and small businesses in Avery County. It’s funded by the North Carolina Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Program and is approximately $2.25 million in value.
Spectrum is part of Charter Communications, Inc., an American telecommunications and mass media company. Its services are branded as Spectrum. Its Fiber-Optic buildout will connect Gigabit Broadband in the county with starting speeds of 300 Megabits per second (Mbps).
The GREAT grant is one of nine already awarded to Spectrum to expand fiber-optic broadband infrastructure to areas of the state that currently lack access to high-speed connection. Spectrum is North Carolina’s largest broadband provider, serving 2.8 million customers and employing nearly 11,000 residents in the state.
The GREAT Grant was signed by the necessary parties (Spectrum and Avery officials) on April 19, 2023, and is in the amount of $2,646,740.00. It will serve 222 households and 12 businesses in Avery County.
Combined with funding from the County of $250,000, that was used from the Federal American Rescue Plan (Coronavirus Pandemic Recovery) money it received, the total project investment by the Avery Commissioners to obtain Broadband Internet service in the county is currently more than $5.6 million ($5,646,740.00 precisely). According to the commissioners, that figure could rise to between approximately $8 to $10 million with other funds the county obtains, especially through the CAB program, and with any additional county funds the commissioners might use for such.
Avery Commission Chairman Tim Phillips stated: “The Avery Board of Commissioners are excited about having Broadband Internet service throughout our county. There’s been a lot of work done to make that a reality. Myself and our other commissioners who are, or who have been involved with the process, are happy we could provide county funds toward that process. And we’re most grateful for the other funding we have received to help with it. We will continue to explore other funding possibilities, too. And if we encounter any problems in our quest for broadband service for as many places as possible in the county, we have many other options to consider and use to help make it happen.”
An update meeting sponsored by the High-Country Council of Governments and moderated by its Director of Economic Recovery & Resilience Cory Osborne, about the progress of securing Broadband Internet service for residences and businesses in Avery and Mitchell counties was held January 29 in the Avery Commissioners Board Room at the County Administration Building in Newland.
Avery officials attending the meeting included Phillips, County Commission Vice-Chairman Dennis Aldridge, Barrier, Jr., and Assistant County Manager Cindy Turbyfill.
Since there was no quorum among the Avery County Commissioners, no official action was taken by them as a Board during the meeting.
A quorum is the minimum number of members of a group necessary to constitute the group at a meeting. In a government assembly, such as that of a county commission, a quorum is mandated by law to conduct the business of that group, including taking votes by its members on any topic.
The Avery Board of Commissioners has five members and only two were present—less than the required majority of at least three-so no quorum existed. Had a majority been present, an official meeting of the Board would have been called.
Mitchell County Commissioner Harley Miller Masters was also present as were representatives of Economic Development Commissions from both Avery and Mitchell Counties.
The High Country Council of Governments, based in Boone, is designated by the federal and state governments as the official agency for the administration of various funds and programs for the seven counties it serves—Avery, Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga, Wilkes, Mitchell, and Yancey. The organization provides many services to local governments that enhances the well-being of their communities. From the care of older adults to water, sewer, transportation planning, workforce development, and geographic information, the Council provides services and resources which might not otherwise be affordable or available to local governments.
The meeting was part of Collaborative Broadband, a project of the North Carolina Rural Center, in working with regional and local government officials and non-profit organizations to coordinate and facilitate the operations and activities of a regional Broadband Internet initiative in achieving such universal service.
Collaborative Broadband Internet serves several roles: as an aggregator of information and data, a convener of key stakeholders and partners, a recruiter of interested Internet Service Providers (ISP), a facilitator of negotiations between ISPs and local governments to ensure accountability, and a coordinator of applications to key federal and state funding agencies.
The North Carolina Rural Center has worked for the past 36 years (since 1987) to develop, promote, and implement sound economic strategies to improve the quality of life of rural North Carolinians. The Rural Center serves the state’s 78 rural counties of its total 100 counties, with a special emphasis on people with low-to-moderate incomes and communities with limited resources.
The North Carolina Rural Center has operated its broadband initiative since 2022. The program helps with infrastructure mapping, public engagement, developing action teams and action plans, and working with last-mile broadband service providers.
Among the North Carolina Rural Center’s mission is to achieve what it terms “Broadband in every corner of North Carolina.” That effort is for universal, last-mile Broadband service in each of the state’s rural counties. Through the project, the Rural Center assists county and regional governments with specific resources and policy information in the creation of a locally driven process for Broadband access and adoption. This work is done through various Action Teams that serve as conduits of information about planning and implementation.
The Rural Center is partnering with Broadband consultants focused on a thirty-three-county region located in the Western and Northeastern parts of the state. These are two of the least connected rural regions of the state.
In Western North Carolina, the following counties are receiving assistance: Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Yancey, and the Qualla Boundary (Cherokee Indian Reservation).
In Northeastern North Carolina, the following counties are receiving assistance: Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrell, and Washington.
The Rural Center received $1 million from the Dogwood Health Trust, based in Asheville, to allow it to expand its Collaborative Broadband Initiative in Western North Carolina in 2023. That financial gift is in addition to federal and state, as well as other grant, funding various counties have received for the installation of such service.
Bill Holmes, Senior Director of Communications for the North Carolina Rural Center said of the Collaborative Broadband Initiative and Dogwood Health Trust’s generous grant funding: “We’re really honored that the Dogwood Health Trust has given us this opportunity to support the work that so many others are doing, including local governments, councils of governments, nonprofits, and businesses. We’re hoping to help them continue the improvements they’ve been making to improve broadband service in Western North Carolina.”
Dogwood Health Trust lists its mission as to dramatically improve the health and well-being of all people and communities in the 18 counties and Qualla Boundary of Western North Carolina. Dogwood Health Trust made more than $81 million in total community investments in 2022, its last reporting period. That included $73 million in traditional grant awards, nearly $800,000 in grant-writing and capacity building support, and $5.4 million in impact investments.
Like Avery’s, Mitchell County officials are also working feverishly to obtain Broadband Internet service for its citizens and businesses and hopes to do so for many of both at approximately the same time frame Avery has—the end of 2026.
According to Mitchell County Manager Allen Cook, French Broad Electric Membership Corporation, which provides electricity in the Central and Northern parts of the county including the Town of Bakersville and other communities, will also be providing funding for Broadband Internet to help propel its installation in homes and businesses in that county.
North Carolina will also get $1.5 billion from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NITA) Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding. The state is conducting several other initiatives that will add and improve broadband coverage, digital equity, and digital literacy throughout all sections of the state—mountains, piedmont and far east and coastal regions.
According to a press release from the North Carolina Governor’s Office, Governor Roy Cooper joined United States President Joe Biden in the state’s capitol city of Raleigh recently to announce $82 million in new investments from the American Rescue Plan’s Capital Projects Fund that will connect at least 16,000 North Carolina homes and businesses to high-speed internet as part of the Biden- (Vice-President Kamala) Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda. This $82 million award will fund Governor Cooper’s Stop-Gap Solutions Program aimed at delivering reliable high-speed internet access to the state’s hardest to reach locations.
“We are grateful for the Biden-Harris Administration’s unwavering commitment to closing the digital divide here in North Carolina and across the nation,” said Governor Cooper in the press release. “Accessing the internet is a necessity in today’s world, and President Biden has continued to be an invaluable partner in our efforts to not only connect North Carolinians to reliable, high-speed internet, but also ensure that they can afford it.”
The Biden-Harris Administration is investing more than $3 billion in North Carolina through the American Rescue Plan and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help connect families and businesses to reliable and affordable internet. Using $1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funding, North Carolina is projected to connect more than 300,000 homes and businesses to high-speed internet by or in 2026. The state has already put this funding toward nearly $350 million in Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) grants to connect 137,646 households and 4,441 businesses in 92 counties, along with $22 million in Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program awards that will connect 6,012 more households and 164 businesses in 14 counties to high-speed internet. American Rescue Plan funds are also supporting efforts to increase access to devices and digital literacy and skills training.
Also, the press release noted that Governor Cooper has joined the Biden-Harris Administration in urging the United States Congress to continue funding the Affordable Connectivity Program that helps millions of households throughout America, including nearly 900,000 in North Carolina, afford reliable high-speed internet. Without Congressional action, 22.6 million American households will have a significant increase in their internet bills and potentially lose service entirely when current funding is projected to end in mid-2024.
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