Gordon among broadband grant counties

Gov. Brian Kemp announced a new round of grants Wednesday that will send more than $235 million in federal pandemic relief funds to broadband projects in 28 Georgia counties, including Gordon and Floyd counties.

When combined with significant local matches, nearly $455 million will be used to serve more than 76,000 locations across the state, many in rural communities most in need of high-speed internet access.

Floyd County was awarded $13,548,056.48 and Gordon County was awarded $4,400,000 as part of the grant distribution. Both are served by Comcast Cable Communications.

“Georgia is again leading the nation in identifying where the digital divide is the deepest and acting on that knowledge to improve service,” Kemp said. “These projects announced today will go a long way to helping Georgians in some of the most unserved and underserved parts of the state become better connected.”

The 29 grants range in size from $18.4 million going to Spectrum Southeast in Madison County in Northeast Georgia to almost $3 million headed to locations served by Comcast Cable Communications in Hancock County near Milledgeville.

The winning internet service providers applied for grants after the governor announced this round of funding last August.

The grant awards announced Wednesday follow an earlier round of funding last February of $408 million in pandemic relief aid. Together, the two rounds of funding are aimed at serving about 200,000 of the remaining 455,000 unserved locations in Georgia.

The state plans to open another round of grant funding for the five eligible counties that have not received grants thus far: Calhoun, Echols, Johnson, Miller, and Webster counties.

The grants, but not the amounts awarded, were announced on Dec. 1. Georgia’s two U.S. senators landed $250 million in federal pandemic relief funds to expand high-speed internet access across the state.

The funds will go toward communities lacking adequate high-speed internet service, Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said Thursday, Dec. 1. Almost 15% of Georgia homes lack access to reliable high-speed broadband, according to draft maps released recently by the Federal Communications Commission.

In 2021, the Floyd County Commission passed a Broadband Community Read ordinance, signaling a readiness to work with broadband providers wishing to expand their service.

According to a map provided by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, about 9% of Floyd County doesn’t have access to broadband internet — including the Chubbtown community in Cave Spring as well as some homes on Texas Valley Road.

The county has also signaled interest in using American Rescue Plan Act funds to begin building infrastructure to accommodate broadband expansion into areas that aren’t served.