RALEIGH — The N.C. Department of Information Technology’s (NCDIT) Division of Broadband and Digital Equity announced this week $67 million in Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program awards to connect 15,835 households and businesses in 15 counties to high-speed internet, including residences of Avery County.
The evaluation committee, consisting of members from the county and from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT), received and reviewed 2 bids in response to the scope of work. The committee met and selected SkyBest Communications for a contract award based on the evaluation criteria set out in the scope of work for broadband deployment to unserved and underserved locations in Avery County. Avery County is a totaled project cost of $9,999,410.12.
The average cost per location is $10,459.63. Contract Term is set for two (2) years to construct the network by October 31, 2026, plus three (3) years to maintain the network and offer service to subscribers.
These projects will be funded by nearly $35 million from the federal American Rescue Plan awarded by NCDIT, nearly $16 million from counties and more than $16 million from selected broadband providers.
“We couldn’t be happier and look forward to working with SkyBest Communications,” said County Manager Phillip Barrier.
The CAB program’s procurement process allows counties to partner with NCDIT to identify areas that need access, solicit proposals from prequalified internet service providers and quickly make awards. Awardees must agree to provide high-speed service that reliably meets or exceeds speeds of 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload.
“Through these awards, more North Carolinians will be able to access affordable and reliable high-speed internet so they can participate in our increasingly digital world,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “I appreciate the partnership among NCDIT, county leaders and broadband providers in helping close our state’s digital divide.”
The division made the following awards:
Avery County: SkyBest Communications Inc.Beaufort County: Connect Holding II, LLC (Brightspeed)Cabarrus County: Windstream North Carolina, LLCChatham County: Connect Holding II, LLC (Brightspeed)Chowan County: ATMC (FOCUS Broadband)Cleveland County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications)Haywood County: Skyrunner Inc.Jones County: Connect Holding II, LLC (Brightspeed)Lee County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications)McDowell County: Skyrunner Inc.Pamlico County: Connect Holding II, LLC (Brightspeed)Pasquotank County: Connect Holding II, LLC (Brightspeed)Perquimans County: ATMC (FOCUS Broadband)Pitt County: Connect Holding II, LLC (Brightspeed)Union County: Windstream North Carolina, LLC
“By partnering directly with county leaders, we can focus on their individual community needs and together make decisions that will benefit their constituents,” said NCDIT Secretary and State Chief Information Officer Jim Weaver. “Thanks to our extensive mapping, previous prequalification process and internet service providers’ responsiveness, we posted these counties’ scopes of work in March and April and worked with them to make awards for new broadband projects in less than three months.”
These CAB program awards add to the more than $356 million in Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) grants and previous CAB funding awarded in 2022 and 2023 that are set to connect more than 140,000 North Carolina households and businesses to high-speed internet. The GREAT grants and CAB program provide matching grants to internet service providers that may partner with individual North Carolina counties to compete for funding to expand high-speed internet service to unserved and underserved areas of the state.
In addition, NCDIT has launched three new dashboards at ncbroadband.gov/dashboards that display details and progress on programs funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act as part of Governor Cooper’s plan to close the digital divide. The dashboards, which are updated monthly, will show the above CAB program awards for each county in July.
For more information about the NCDIT Division of Broadband and Digital Equity and Governor Cooper’s plan to close the digital divide, visit ncbroadband.gov.
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