It was announced during Monday’s meeting of the Polk County Board of Commissioners that the county has been awarded funding from the N.C. Department of Information Technology’s (NCDIT) Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program.
The CAB program’s procurement process creates a partnership between Counties and NCDIT to identify areas needing access, solicit proposals from prequalified internet service providers, and quickly issue awards. Awardees must agree to provide high-speed service that reliably meets or exceeds speeds of 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload.
“We are excited so many counties and internet service providers have partnered with us on the CAB program,” NCDIT Deputy Secretary for Broadband and Digital Equity, Nate Denny, recently said in a press release. “These awarded projects will help us make significant progress on closing the state’s digital divide.”
County Manager Marche Pittman explained the vetting process for the CAB. He said an evaluation committee consisted of two members from the state Broadband Infrastructure Office and two County staff members, and they recommended awarding the contract to Skyrunner, Inc. (out of Asheville) because their proposal represented the best value to the state and county among the submitted proposals.
Skyrunner proposed serving the most locations (2680) at the lowest average cost per location ($3,028.92). The total cost of the project is $8,117,499.00, and the contract states they will have two (2) years to construct the network (by October 31, 2026) plus three (3) years to maintain the network and offer service to subscribers.
The award required a county match of $811,750.00, and the Commissioners unanimously approved accepting the award and funding the match necessary for the CAB Project.
The map shows the CAB’s proposed locations to be served by Skyrunner; each green dot represents a proposed eligible home for the new service. Skyrunner’s contract through this funding is to provide fiber optic to homes.
Pittman told the Commissioners that Polk County has received funding from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Grant, and now the Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program. With the recent financial match for CAB, Polk County has appropriated $1,061,750 county dollars to bring in more than $21,000,000 of state and federal funds that will collectively, provide fiber optic capabilities to more than 7,000 homes in the unserved and underserved areas of Polk County.
“I’m excited about how the broadband awards will benefit our citizens,” Pittman said. “Many thanks to all of our partners, including the providers, NCDIT, the N.C. Legislature, and the Polk County Board of Commissioners for their visionary approach to serving the broadband needs of our community.”
Contact the three providers that have won RDOF, GREAT, or CAB awards in Polk County for more information:
Skyrunner – skyrunner.net, 828-258-8562
Charter/Spectrum – spectrum.com, 855-860-9068
Windstream/Kinetic – Windstream.com, 833-833-1210