About 4,500 Cherokee County homes and small businesses lacked access to internet service last year, but change is in the air — or rather, the ground.
The county and Charter Communications have launched a two-year public-private partnership in which the Upstate county will model Charter’s plans for its $5 billion broadband expansion to an estimated 1 million homes and businesses across the country.
The project will draw on the Federal Communication Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.
“Broadband is a vital resource for work, learning and personal connection,” Jessica Geremia, Spectrum’s area vice president of field operations, said in a news release. “Leveraging RDOF resources, we’re building a high-speed, high-capacity network that will bring gigabit internet to thousands of homes and small businesses in Cherokee County — an investment that will ensure families and businesses can participate fully in the digital world, now and well into the future.”
The Cherokee project, funded with more than $3 million, began Jan. 1 and is expected to connect 3,000 homes and small businesses to high-speed internet.
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