Plan notes broadband progress: over 1,000 locations under grant commitments, 118 still unserved

Chattahoochee County’s broadband section highlights state and federal programs that have been mobilized to expand high-speed internet to previously unserved and underserved addresses.

The plan cites the 2018 Achieving Connectivity Everywhere (ACE) Act (SB 402) and the Georgia Broadband Deployment Initiative as policy frameworks and notes data sources from the FCC broadband fabric and the Georgia 2024 availability map. It reports that 1,174 locations have fixed broadband service; an additional 1,011 locations are encumbered by grant commitments to fiber or symmetrical gigabit-class service (USDA telecom, ARPA, FCC RDOF/BEAD-layer awards), and 118 locations remain unserved as of June 2024.

County officials and the River Valley Regional Commission describe ongoing efforts to position the community to capture remaining funding opportunities and to facilitate provider deployment to the outstanding unserved locations. The plan lists likely grant recipients (Charter/Spectrum, Flint Electric/Conexon Connect, Public Service Telephone Company) as entities participating in grant-funded expansions.

The document observes that some locations currently served still fall below the Georgia threshold for "sufficient" broadband (100 Mbps down/20 Mbps up) and that the county will continue outreach to increase service levels and subscription rates. Tracking of BEAD and other grant commitments through state/federal maps is presented as part of the planning rationale.

Next steps in broadband implementation are tied to grant awards and provider deployment timelines; the plan recommends continued county facilitation and local policy measures to accelerate take-rate and subscription where feasible.