North Carolina Telephone Co-op FOCUS Broadband Secures $5.4 Million For Fiber Expansion

FOCUS Broadband logo

The North Carolina nonprofit telephone cooperative FOCUS Broadband nabbed $5.4 million in grant funding from the state’s Department of Information Technology (NCDIT) to extend its fiber network to 800 additional rural homes and businesses in heavily unserved portions of both Chowan and Perquimans counties.

According to a company announcement, the funding was provided by the North Carolina Completing Access To Broadband (CAB) grant program, made possible, in turn, by the 2021 federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). With an end of the year obligation deadline looming, communities are mobilizing to ensure ARPA-related funds have been fully committed.

Of the total $5.4 million in total state funding, FOCUS says that $1.9 million will be used to expand high-speed Internet service to over 300 addresses in Chowan County, with $3.4 million of the funds being utilized to bring high-speed Internet service to an additional 588 addresses in Perquimans County. Currently, the cooperative provides broadband services to 71,000 residents and businesses.

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FOCUS Broadband fiber expansion flyer

FOCUS Broadband CEO Keith Holden indicates the cooperative will contribute approximately $1 million of its own money to the projects, with Chowan and Perquimans counties providing a combined $338,806 in additional funding.

“This funding is essential to bringing high-speed Internet access to the remaining underserved areas in Chowan and Perquimans counties,” FOCUS broadband CEO Keith Holden said in a statement. “We would like to thank the NCDIT for their ongoing efforts to help close the digital divide in rural North Carolina, as well as the county managers and commissioners in both Chowan and Perquimans, who have been instrumental in securing funding to bring high-speed internet to their county’s residents.”

FOCUS Broadband's parent company, ATMC (Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation), was first formed in 1955. Since then they’ve been driving affordable fiber into North Carolina neighborhoods that were either entirely unserved, or stuck under an expensive monopoly consisting of either Charter (Spectrum) or AT&T.

As a nonprofit, community-owned venture, cooperatives like FOCUS tend to be more receptive to local needs. Their services also tend to be cheaper – with fewer restrictions – than those of major regional telecom giants.

In most markets, the cooperative offers locals three tiers of service: a symmetrical 300 megabit per second (Mbps) option for $58 a month; a symmetrical 500 Mbps option for $68 a month; or a symmetrical gig speed option for $78 per month. The pricing, which doesn’t feature usage caps or contracts, are notably more affordable than competitor offerings.

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FOCUS Broadband happy subscriber

FOCUS has been awarded over $15 million through the NCDIT’s Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Grant program since 2022 to construct a gigabit-capable fiber network in rural Chowan and Perquimans counties. Construction is underway in both counties with pilot areas already connected.

The broader $67 million awarded in CAB program funds through NCDIT are aimed to connect 15,835 households and businesses across 15 North Carolina counties. All told, the full CAB program has doled out $356 million in GREAT grants since 2022, connecting 140,000 North Carolina homes and businesses to broadband.

North Carolina is also poised to receive more than $1.5 billion in federal Broadband Equity And Deployment (BEAD) grants made possible by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

In addition to its planned network expansion, FOCUS also announced that it would be providing $1.32 Million in Capital Credit Refunds to members.

“Because of the continued success of our cooperative, we’re once again pleased to be able to give back to our membership through capital credit disbursements,” Whitney King. “Not only are we giving back to our community through capital credits, but we are also investing millions into our cooperative service area through our fiber optic network upgrade. Benefitting our members is always at the forefront of what we do.”

Inline images courtesy of FOCUS Broadband Facebook page
 

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