The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program provides federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds to expand high-speed internet access through planning, infrastructure deployment, and adoption programs via the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program and to ensure all North Carolinians can afford high-speed internet, have the digital devices they need and the skills to use them, and can safely engage with online information via the Digital Equity program. North Carolina is receiving $1.5 billion.

Provides federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for solutions for households unserved or underserved with broadband following investment from the GREAT Grant Program and the CAB Program. The goal is to reach those high-cost, hard to reach locations. North Carolina is receiving $86.5 million.

The Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program provides federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to create partnerships between each participating County and NCDIT for a competitive bidding process to build infrastructure and provide service to unserved areas. General Assembly appropriated $400 million for the CAB program.

NCDIT allowed counties to use Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) funding to fund The Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) grant applications not awarded during the second round. Haywood County elected to sign on. NCDIT awarded the contract to Spectrum. Spectrum’s project scope included 290 residential locations and 11 businesses. Construction is expected to be completed by November 2025.

The Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) program provides federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to broadband service providers to deploy broadband infrastructure to unserved areas of eligible economically distressed counties. NCDIT awarded Spectrum the contract. The proposed project will include 177 residential locations and 5 businesses. The projected completion date is April 2025

The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program is a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) initiative designed to address the “digital divide,” providing funds to support broadband expansion into rural America. Eligible areas include those without current (or already funded) access to adequate broadband service, defined by the FCC as 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream (25/3). The contract was awarded to Spectrum, which will service 5,479 locations in Haywood County.

The Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) program provided funding to private sector broadband providers to deploy last-mile broadband infrastructure to unserved areas of North Carolina. In 2020, Haywood County received a GREAT grant. The awardee was Skyrunner; this project added 304 locations in the Fines Creek and Crabtree areas.