Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) Program

The Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) Program provides an opportunity for individual N.C. counties to partner with NCDIT to fund broadband deployment projects in unserved areas of each county. N.C. Session Law 2021-180 appropriates $400 million from the American Rescue Plan Act for this new program.  NCDIT and the Broadband Infrastructure Office, in partnership with counties, will develop a competitive process for broadband providers to bid on broadband infrastructure deployments. Participating counties will work with the Broadband Infrastructure Office to mutually identify eligible project areas and develop the scope of work for the procurement of construction, installation and operation of broadband infrastructure in the targeted project areas. NCDIT will provide customizable procurement templates and processes for use with each county. Projects require matching investments from counties and the selected broadband service providers. No county may receive more than $4 million in aggregate funding from the CAB Fund in a single year. 

The CAB Program complements the GREAT Grant program to provide solutions to areas not served by the GREAT Grant. Per legislation, projects applied for and not funded under the GREAT Grant can be considered for funding under the CAB Program. 

Counties and other interested stakeholders should send any programmatic questions to CABprogram@nc.gov.