Raleigh, NC – The North Carolina Department of Information Technology’s Division of Broadband and Digital Equity (NCDIT) has announced that CarolinaLink members, FOCUS Broadband and SkyLine/SkyBest, were recipients in the state’s latest round of Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program awards. Utilizing the funding from this program, the cooperatives will bring fiber optic high-speed internet to underserved and unserved areas in Avery, Chowan, and Perquimans counties.
“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 in a released statement. “I appreciate the partnership among NCDIT, county leaders and broadband providers in helping close our state’s digital divide.”
In the announcement, the NCDIT shared that the $67 million CAB program awards would connect 15,835 households and businesses in 15 North Carolina counties with high-speed internet. FOCUS Broadband was awarded CAB funding for both Chowan and Perquimans counties to bring service to remaining underserved areas in those counties. SkyLine/SkyBest Communications was also awarded CAB funding to extend their fiber optic network to underserved communities in Avery County.
As part of the CAB program’s procurement process, counties can partner with the NCDIT to identify areas in need of high-speed internet access, solicit proposals from prequalified internet service providers and quickly make awards. All seven of CarolinaLink’s members have been prequalified and are eligible to participate in the CAB program in 2024.
“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.”
This latest round of CAB program awards adds to the more than $356 million in 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.
For more information about CarolinaLink and their members, visit www.carolinalink.org.