North Carolina’s GREAT Efforts to Close the Digital Divide

North Carolina is currently putting to work over a billion dollars from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding through a number of programs, including the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) grants to connect the 1.1 million households in the state unable to access the internet. Around $380 million in GREAT funding is designed to incentivize deployments to unserved rural parts of the state. The state also has a Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program to address high-cost areas where service providers are traditionally reluctant to go along with money going to utility pole replacement, broadband mapping, and digital literacy, with the ARPA spending leading to future success. By 2025, the state government wants 98% of North Carolina households to have access to high-speed internet and an 80% subscription rate statewide, using specific and targeted investments in disadvantaged communities. It also wants a 100% subscription rate for households with school-age children to eliminate the “homework gap” in the state.