This week, North Carolina awarded $86 million to help bring broadband to almost 26,000 homes and businesses in 19 counties. Nine broadband providers will receive funding, contributing $26 million of their own funds. This is the third announcement of North Carolina broadband funding in the last three weeks.
Among the awardees in the latest funding news were four large providers: AT&T, Brightspeed, Charter, and Windstream. Also among the awardees were four local providers: BalsamWest, Roanoke Cooperative, Skyrunner Internet, and Star Communications. In addition, Zito Media, which operates in several states, won funding.
BalsamWest is a CLEC serving the West Carolina region with both fiber and fixed wireless internet…