South Carolina

CarolinaConnect Cooperative withdrew from the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program. While CarolinaConnect Cooperative remains committed to delivering gigabit-tier broadband and voice services to rural communities in South Carolina, escalating construction costs to deploy broadband and voice services throughout its RDOF-funded area, combined with the relatively modest RDOF funding authorized for CarolinaConnect Cooperative, have led It to make this difficult decision. CarolinaConnect Cooperative will no longer receive RDOF support and may be subje

The South Carolina Broadband Office announced that eight of the original sixteen projects approved in its Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment Final Proposal were able to be funded with existing, non-BEAD resources. In addition, four of eight remaining BEAD agreements have been signed, and construction should soon be underway. This accomplishment comes on the heels of completing investments of $400 million American Rescue Plan Act funds. In total, prior to the BEAD program, the SCBBO has funded 277 projects since inception, and 231 are complete.

More than 850 homes and businesses in York and Chester Counties (SC) have gained access to Comporium’s fiber-based multi-Gigabit internet service. Comporium recently placed over 64 miles of fiber-optic network to reach addresses in and around McConnells, Catawba, Clover, York, and Edgemoor. These projects required almost $5.2 million of investment to extend the company’s fiber-optic network. They provide customers with access to internet speeds of up to 5 Gigabits per second and will improve the quality of life significantly in rural areas.

Brightspeed announced that its fiber network build is nearly 75 percent complete in South Carolina. Now, more than 47,000 homes and businesses in the Palmetto State have access to the country’s fastest internet service. Construction crews remain active in Beaufort, Greenwood, Hampton, Jasper, Laurens, Orangeburg and Saluda counties. Construction of the company’s fiber network in the community of Ninety Six is well underway.

Today's big news is that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved 18 Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program Final Proposals. As a reminder, we've been tracking what those proposals looked like when they were submitted to the NTIA. In the coming days, we'll be examining the final final (Is that what we should call them?) BEAD plans to see what changes were made during the approval process.

The South Carolina Broadband Office (SCBBO) announced that broadband deployment is continuing at a rapid pace and, while construction is still underway statewide, only 28,724 Broadband Serviceable Locations (BSLs) remain unserved or underserved and lack an investment commitment. Of the remaining BSLs, 21,466 are residential, 5,469 are business, and 1,789 are Community Anchor Institutions. These totals represent 1.1% and 2.9% of the statewide residential and business BSLs, respectively.

Jim Stritzinger, Director of the South Carolina Broadband Office, likes “to think of the work we’re doing as an Olympic relay race.” The first leg, he said, was the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The second leg was federal funding like the US Department of Agriculture’s ReConnect Loan and Grant Program and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The third leg was the American Rescue Plan Act.

Brightspeed says that it has received $238 million in local, state, and federal grants and funds. The money, the company says, will expand the number of addresses passed by planned projects by 121,000 in 14 states. Brightspeed, which is based in North Carolina, says that it will continue to pursue state and federal grants. The funding:

The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has recommended for award more than $276 million to 44 Tribal entities to expand high-speed Internet access and adoption. The funding from the nearly $3 billion Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program is part of the Biden-Harris Administration's Internet for All Initiative.