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Ripple Fiber takes over CloudWise assets; county says broadband grants will push unserved locations below 4,000
Summary
County broadband staff reported that commercial and state grant projects — including BRIDLE SPEED, Spectrum cab grants and Ripple Fiber’s acquisition of CloudWise fiber — will reduce Harnett County’s unserved/underserved locations to under 4,000 if projects complete on schedule.
Harnett County broadband and IT staff provided an update May 13 on grant‑funded deployments and a recent private acquisition of local fiber infrastructure. County staff said combined grant projects and carrier activity should cut the county’s unserved or underserved broadband locations substantially.
What county staff reported - Grant activity: Staff said BRIDLE SPEED (a CAB grant recipient) and Spectrum (a separate CAB grant for roughly $1 million covering about 300 locations) are actively deploying infrastructure in parts of the county. The county’s mapping is tied to the NC1 state broadband map. - CloudWise/Ripple Fiber acquisition: County staff announced Ripple Fiber has acquired CloudWise’s fiber infrastructure in Harnett County. Ripple will complete pending permits and designs and then begin construction and customer notifications. County staff said CloudWise retained some fixed‑wireless customers but that fiber assets moved to Ripple. - Service area and timeline: County staff said the current grant projects and the Ripple/CloudWise acquisition should reduce the county’s unserved/underserved locations to under 4,000 and possibly below 2,000 depending on future grant awards; the state grant timetable aims to complete CAB/GRANT builds by December 2026.
Public outreach and next steps Ripple Fiber (represented virtually by Kayla Hood) told the board it holds permits and designs for county builds and plans resident door‑hanger and mailer outreach before construction in neighborhoods. County staff said they will continue to track CAB and grant progress and report updates to the board.
Ending County staff framed broadband progress as a multi‑year effort and said Harnett County is “hitting the sweet spot” for grant funding that should materially reduce unserved locations if projects are completed as planned.
