Rowan County official: federal and state grants accelerating broadband buildout; county not expected to provide local match

Randy, a county staff member who presented the broadband update, told Rowan County commissioners on Jan. 21 that federal and state funding streams are driving recent broadband construction and that the county itself likely will not be required to provide a local match for the next wave of projects.

Randy said the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) expansion and other federal grants have produced visible buildout: “They've passed 1,200 households,” he said, and one provider that had until 2028 to complete work now expects to finish this year. He also reported that a county-participated project originally budgeted with ARPA funds has resulted in coax and fiber being installed in areas that previously lacked service.

County staff emphasized why the next state opportunity matters. Randy said a $3,300,000 state-funded project is out for bids and listed for roughly 3,000 addresses; responses of interest were due to the state the day of the meeting. He said the county’s role will be limited to signing up to participate and that “there's no county match there.” He added that proposals will be reviewed by county staff working with the state and that a separate, much larger state funding pool (about $1.5 billion statewide) could address remaining unserved locations in future waves.

Commissioners asked for clarification on the data shown in slides. Randy said the county’s percentage of unserved eligible homes is under 5% based on the state Department of Information Technology (DIT) data as of June 30, 2024, and that the map markers represent clusters of one to 15 eligible homes. He noted that Charter Spectrum and other ISPs have been building fiber backbones and, in some places, coax to final connections.

Randy summarized the rollout progress: a CREIGHT grant (the county participated with an earlier contribution) covered 758 households and had reached 683 of them, he said; other federal awards have extended coverage in additional clusters. He said the county originally allocated ARPA funds to a project but that state legislation removed the county’s matching obligation for the current round.

The presentation closed with county staff saying they will monitor bids and continue coordination with the state. No formal action was taken at the meeting; the briefing was informational.

The update included several numeric milestones discussed on the record: roughly 1,200 households passed by a federal provider; 683 of 758 households reached under the county-participated grant; an in-progress state-funded opportunity of $3,300,000 targeting about 3,000 addresses; and a larger, statewide funding tranche of about $1.5 billion for future rounds.