South Carolina invests $112 million in rural broadband expansion

The South Carolina Broadband Office (SCBBO) approved $112.3 million in its first round of grant funding for 17 projects that will expand last-mile broadband to 16,000 locations. The funding comes “Next, Next Greatest Thing – Main Street South Carolina” (MAIN ST) grant program.

The competitive grant program will help bring reliable, high-quality internet to rural areas that lack adequate broadband access and service. The program will prioritize projects in rural town centers and surrounding residential areas.

South Carolina announced in March 2023 that it received a total of $185.8 million for broadband infrastructure from the US Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund (CPF 1.0) grant program. CPF is a $10 billion federal initiative that supports state, territory and Tribal government capital projects that enable work, education and health monitoring. CPF has awarded approximately $9 billion to states since March 2021.

As part of the MAIN ST program, SCBBO awarded grants to eight internet service providers (ISPs), which contributed $50 million in their own funding to the projects, bringing the total first round broadband infrastructure investment to $162.1 million.

SCBBO plans to award the remaining funds through a second round of grants in early 2024. The funded projects will expand broadband service to over 31,000 locations by the end of 2025.

The CPF investments will serve approximately 26% of locations across the state that do not have high-speed internet access, according to a South Carolina report.

The program requires that all projects must provide 100/100 Mbps of internet speeds to households and businesses upon completion. In addition, each ISP will participate in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides internet service discounts for eligible households.

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