Press Releases

Nearly $30 million will go to fund 18 broadband infrastructure projects with a goal of connecting 15,965 households and 703 businesses in rural North Carolina to high-speed internet as part of the 2020 Special Supplementary Round of the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Grant program. 

This digital inclusion program will expand healthcare and economic opportunities for disadvantaged groups in Macon, Madison and Mitchell counties.

The COVID-19 pandemic has proved challenging for North Carolinians without reliable and affordable high-speed internet service and adequate internet-enabled devices at home. 

North Carolina Digital Inclusion Week aims to underscore the importance of digital equity and to prompt digital inclusion efforts across the state to improve broadband access, foster adoption, increase computer ownership and promote digital literacy.

Internet service providers and electric membership cooperatives can now apply for $32 million in pandemic relief grant funding to help bring high-speed internet access to rural North Carolina.

Nearly $40 million is going to NC Student Connect, a partnership tackling internet connectivity gaps that disrupt remote learning for N.C. students.

Five new projects will expand high-speed internet access for residents in three rural counties, thanks to more than $4 million in supplemental GREAT grant funding through the COVID-19 Recovery Act.

People living and working in 11 rural counties will get expanded high-speed internet service thanks to more than $12 million in grants awarded by Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration.

The study identified the broadband, health care and telehealth assets and gaps in the 20 coal-impacted counties in the Appalachian region in order to design pilot programs that leverage technology to provide appropriate clinical interventions, improve the local population’s health, increase local workforce participation and ultimately improve local economies.

The North Carolina Broadband Survey will help the N.C. Department of Information Technology gain a better understanding of internet speeds and the need for high-speed internet in the state.