Telecom
Ga. Co-ops to Expand Broadband
Ultra high-speed Internet is starting to become a reality in heavily rural northeast Georgia. Two co-ops recently began installing a $42 million regional fiber optic network that will cross a 260-mile corridor through several mountain communities.
Ruben Boling (left) and Todd Pealock from a north Georgia college discuss a $42 million fiber optic network that’s being built now. (Photo By: North Georgia College and State University)
The co-ops, which helped form the North Georgia Network Cooperative, will string fiber optic cable through 12 counties. The project will take about two years to complete and is funded by a $33 million federal stimulus grant and another $6.3 million from network partners.
Broadband access is critical to job creation, said Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal at a March 16 economic development summit sponsored by the North Georgia Network. Calling it a “potential game changer” for north Georgia, Deal, in local news reports, said that “infrastructure of this sort is one of those critical tools we have to have.”
Construction of the project itself could result in nearly 22,000 jobs, according to the North Georgia Network Cooperative, which includes county economic development agencies, Blue Ridge Mountain EMC in Young Harris, Habersham EMC, Clarkesville, and others. When complete, the network could serve more than 9,000 businesses, 42,000 households and hundreds of government facilities, schools, banks and hospitals.
Right now, the region has access to DSL, dial-up or broadband access through satellite services. But those options are expensive and have limited availability and reliability problems, said Matthew Akins, general manager of BRMEMC.
At North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega, there’s only one Internet connection to support a campus of several thousand users. The new fiber will let the college install another connection that “in addition to being 40 times faster than our current speed will provide better redundancy and fail-over” to improve reliability, said Dr. Bryson Payne, the college’s CIO.
Construction will involve connecting existing fiber optic cables to form a main network. The hardest part of the project, said Akins, will involve the “middle mile” and “last mile” sections, which will connect businesses and homes to the main network. “About 180 of the 260 miles will be new,” said Akins of the job.
Tags: Broadband, Local Initiatives, Stimulus Bill, Telecom