By Gerri Miller, EAN Staff Writer
For those in our area who are still struggling with slow, or non-existent Internet/Broadband service, this is huge news.
Central Alabama Electric Cooperative (CAEC) will receive a $8.6 million federal grant to continue its construction of a fiber network to help connect homes, farms and businesses to high-speed broadband internet, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development Program announced today.
Six Alabama organizations will receive a total of $37 million to provide broadband service in underserved areas of the state. USDA Deputy Under Secretary of Rural Development Bette Brand and Congressman Gary Palmer of the Sixth Congressional District made the announcement as part of $550 million Congress allocated for the second round of the Reconnect Program.
The USDA Broadband ReConnect Program furnishes loans and grants to provide funds for the costs of construction, improvement or acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide broadband service in eligible rural areas.
CAEC will use the grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect 13,853 people, 149 farms, 77 businesses, and one fire station to high-speed broadband internet in Autauga, Elmore, Chilton, Bibb, Perry, Talladega, and Coosa counties.
CAEC CEO/President Tom Stackhouse said the organization’s plan did not originally include applying for a grant, but that the money will help get areas with the greatest need served first. “This will also help level the quality of life playing field for economic development,” he said.
CAEC, through its subsidiary Central Access, is involved in a multi-year project divided into phases that will make broadband internet service available to members who no one else has been willing to serve.
Brand said that 21 million people still lack high-speed internet service and 80 percent of those people live in rural areas. “It is not an amenity, it is a necessity,” she said.
“Connecting America’s rural communities to this essential infrastructure is one of USDA’s top priorities because we know that when rural American thrives, all of America thrives.”
Palmer said high-speed internet will be transformational for rural communities in areas such as telehealth and education. “This is a great day for Alabama,” he said.
Other Alabama organizations receiving grants, the counties they represent, and the grant amounts included:
Millry Telephone Company, Inc., Choctaw and Washington counties, $8.3 million; Pine Belt Telephone Company, Perry, Hale and Marengo counties, $6.5 million; Moundville Telephone Co., Inc., Hale County, $166,000; Mon-Cre Telephone Cooperative Inc., Crenshaw, Lowndes and Montgomery counties, $5.8 million; and Hayneville Telephone Company, Lowndes County, $1.5 million.
U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said, “Connectivity is critically important for families, businesses, farms, and public safety and community services – particularly during a time when remote access is paramount. These USDA grants will help provide high-speed internet access to thousands of Alabamians in rural areas. I am proud that the Administration has awarded this $37 million investment to our state and look forward to the benefits it will bring to 14 counties in central Alabama.”
