(TNS) – More than $ 50 million in broadband expansion projects will begin this month in 23 counties across the state to help close the internet service gap exposed by the pandemic COVID-19.
The excavated projects are being made possible, in part, with funds from the CARES Law, federal aid to the coronavirus that must be spent by the end of the year. The dollars will help ISPs expand the service to areas where it may take longer to make a profit.
On Thursday, the Office of Regulatory Staff, a state agency charged with providing internet connections to needy residents of the state during the pandemic, approved 71 projects to expand broadband in 23 counties, including Orangeburg, Lancaster, Lexington and Fairfield. The agency will reimburse broadband companies 50% of the project costs, said Nanette Edwards, director of ORS.
“What they did is try to identify areas where they knew they could do it quickly. I think that’s why you see it scattered, ”said Edwards.
Broadband projects are a good start, but also a drop in the road to close the state’s broadband access gap. There are 650,000 people in South Carolina and 180,000 homes in the state without high-speed Internet access. A broadband expert in the state says it would cost $ 800 million to connect the rest of homes in the state without access to broadband.
ORS expects contractors to start small expansion projects this month and complete them before the end of the year, before the December 31 deadline to spend money under the CARES Act.
And ORS did not have the number of households that should have access to broadband available immediately after the completion of the projects.
The agency is working to create a broadband map to determine its own estimate of what it would take to fully build broadband in the state, but acknowledged that the money being spent now is small.
“I think it is really difficult to give a concrete number to say that this is what it will really cost to do a complete construction of the state of South Carolina for each structure that is capable of having internet,” said Edwards.
A problem before COVID-19
The coronavirus has focused on the state’s deficient broadband infrastructure, testing providers’ ability to provide essential services.
Forced online to limit the spread of COVID-19, schools have struggled to reach virtually all students and doctors have seen an increase in demand for telehealth visits.
ORS is also using federal aid money COVID-19 to provide Internet access for families in financial need.
More than 100,000 families in the state of Palmetto received temporary internet connections through a state program, primarily through mobile hotspots.
But these hotspots are no substitute for broadband, which provides the fastest download and upload speeds needed for live streaming. And since many households do not yet have access to broadband, lawmakers are looking for ways to continue expanding broadband.
Senate finance president Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, said during a hearing on Thursday that he wants to see broadband expansion accelerated in the state.
“I want us to analyze and see if there is anything we can do to streamline broadband across the state, because if we miss this opportunity, I think it will never happen again,” said Leatherman. “I want to make sure that we are not the state that remains here with screw holes throughout the state, we have no service.”
Projects target rural areas
The projects will serve several purposes.
Aiken Electric is bringing broadband to schools to provide students with free WiFi.
In another set of projects, the internet and telephone company Comporium plans to bring broadband to 671 homes and 76 companies in the Van Wyck area of Lancaster County, in accordance with its requests for $ 1.3 million in CARES money.
Most of Van Wyck does not have broadband service, Mayor Sean Corcoran wrote to ORS supporting Comporium applications. The rural nature of the area, with a small population, makes it more expensive for companies to bring high-speed internet lines to serve fewer customers than it would be to bring services to more populated areas.
“Unfortunately, due to the rural nature of our community, there is not enough economic incentive to improve our telecommunications infrastructure,” Corcoran wrote to ORS supporting a Comporium application.
Companies are only paid for the work completed and the service available.
If projects cannot be completed by December, Edwards said that companies have been asked to set milestones in their projects so that at least part of a target area has service available before the end of the year, and companies can receive part of their CARES approved Reimbursement of act.
Lee Chambers, the CEO of Sandhill Telephone Cooperative, a telephone, broadband and TV provider in the Pee Dee region, said the cooperative plans to start a broadband expansion in the next two weeks in Marlboro County.
The company will carry out US $ 2.2 million in works in five projects. The projects were on the wish list for three years and will provide broadband to between 1,000 and 1,500 customer homes in rural areas.
“At the moment, I think there is a pent-up demand for him with people working at home, with telemedicine (e) needs with virtual education,” said Chambers. “If you go into areas where people are starving for lack of internet and if they can afford it, they will be able to.”
Sandhill plans to extend 17 to 20 miles of overhead lines from existing electricity poles.
Without the CARES Act money, it would take 15 years to recover this type of investment. With CARES money, that time could be reduced to five years.
“We are going to areas that large companies have traditionally neglected, for the same reason that everyone has neglected them,” said Chambers. “It is difficult to justify the cost of spending more than $ 1,500 per home for just one connection.”
© 2020 The State (Columbia, SC). Distributed by Tribune, LLC Content Agency.
Looking for the latest technology news from the government right now? Subscribe to GT newsletters.