Brightspeed Awarded GREAT Grants for 29 Counties in North Carolina

Firm Receives Extra Than $90 Million in State and County Grants to Prolong Attain of Deliberate
Gig-Velocity Fiber Community to 38,000 Potential Prospects

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Brightspeed right this moment introduced that it has been awarded greater than $90 million in grants masking 38,000 areas throughout 29 counties in North Carolina as a part of the state’s latest spherical of the Rising Rural Economies with Entry to Expertise (GREAT) grant course of. Brightspeedⁱ was the highest recipient of the GREAT grant awards spherical introduced by the N.C. Division of Info Expertise on August 31.

The GREAT program is designed to fund the deployment of broadband by offering matching grants to web service suppliers working to increase high-speed web entry to unserved and underserved areas of North Carolina. In a extremely aggressive course of that drew greater than 300 candidates, service suppliers have been evaluated based mostly on the variety of households and companies they suggest to serve, the common price to serve these areas, and the speeds provided. 

“We’re thrilled Brightspeed was chosen to obtain GREAT grant funds in 29 counties throughout our dwelling state of North Carolina,” stated Tom Dailey, Brightspeed’s vp of public coverage and authorities affairs. “As our economic system, schooling programs, office choices, and healthcare platforms more and more transfer on-line, it’s important for the broadband infrastructure to maintain tempo for households and companies alike. We respect the chance to increase the attain of our fiber community to much more prospects throughout so many North Carolina communities.”

Brightspeed beforehand introduced that it’s going to construct a good portion of its deliberate fiber optics community in North Carolina, the place it expects to ship, by finish of 2023, over 300,000 new fiber passings in parts of greater than 30 counties within the first section of building within the state. Brightspeed additional plans a further 500,000 fiber passings in subsequent years of its community transformation initiative, for a complete of as much as 800,000 fiber-enabled areas throughout its North Carolina footprint.

The GREAT funds will play an necessary function in furthering Brightspeed’s mission of bridging the digital divide by enabling the corporate to deploy an incremental 38,000 fiber passings in parts of Ashe, Beaufort, Burke, Caldwell, Camden, Carteret, Catawba, Chatham, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Forsyth, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Greene, Hertford, Montgomery, Moore, Onslow, Pasquotank, Pitt, Sampson, Tyrrell, Vance, Washington, Wilkes, and Wilson counties.

“Partnering with county and native officers throughout our working territory is crucial as we collectively work to assist shut the rural-urban digital divide, and we’re grateful for his or her assist,” continued Dailey. “We applaud the state’s continued dedication to growing broadband entry for communities who will profit probably the most. We’re grateful for the chance to play a management function in accelerating the supply of sooner, extra dependable web and to take part in packages that assist affordability for our North Carolina prospects.”

Brightspeed will initially be comprised of incumbent native trade service (ILEC) belongings and related operations of Lumen Applied sciences ( NYSE: LUMN), that are topic to pending acquisition by Apollo-managed funds ( NYSE: APO) that’s anticipated to shut early within the fourth quarter. Brightspeed intends to take a position no less than $2 billion of its personal funds within the fiber optics transformation of its working territory, masking primarily rural and suburban areas of the nation.

The corporate is working with a choose crew of expertise innovators and blue-chip companions to implement its state-of-the-art FTTP community. Brightspeed’s fiber community deployment will leverage XGS-PON, an structure supporting obtain and add web speeds that exceed 1Gbps, and Wi-Fi 6, the most recent wi-fi networking normal for optimum velocity and efficiency inside right this moment’s device-packed houses and companies.

For extra details about Brightspeed, go to the corporate’s web site, www.brightspeed.com.

About Brightspeed
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. and anticipated to have belongings and related operations in 20 states, Brightspeed will present broadband and telecommunications companies by means of a community platform able to serving greater than 6 million houses and companies. The corporate goals to bridge the digital divide by deploying a state-of-the-art fiber community and a buyer expertise that makes staying related easy and seamless. For extra details about Brightspeed, go to the corporate’s web site, www.brightspeed.com.

Media

Erik Carlson
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
(212) 355-4449
[email protected]

SOURCE Brightspeed