Broadband Projects Connect Homes and Businesses

On April 1, 2025, Governor Josh Stein announced more than $31 million in Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program projects, which will connect 10,810 households and businesses in 14 counties to high-speed internet.

“No matter where you live in the state, you should have access to high-speed internet,” said Stein.

“Broadband is critical to providing more economic opportunity to every corner of the state, and I am proud to create a stronger and more connected North Carolina for every person and small business owner.”

The CAB program’s procurement process creates a partnership between counties and NCDIT to identify areas that need access and solicits proposals from prequalified internet service providers. Awardees must agree to provide high-speed service that reliably meets or exceeds speeds of 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload.

These projects will be funded by more than $22.1 million from the federal American Rescue Plan, which is awarded by NCDIT, and by nearly $9.6 million from selected broadband providers.

NCDIT Secretary and State Chief Information Officer Teena Piccione said, “North Carolinians across the state will be getting high-speed internet access so they can work, access online learning opportunities, participate in telehealth, and build a stronger state economy. We will continue to announce CAB project awards every two weeks throughout April in order to help connect more homes and businesses.”

Western region counties receiving funds include:

• Avery: SkyBest Communications, Inc. This award will provide high-speed internet access to 805 homes or businesses (99.38% of the county’s 810 eligible locations).
• Buncombe: Frontier Communications of the Carolinas; 132 homes or businesses (6.35% of the county’s 2,079 eligible locations).
• Swain: Zito West Holding, LLC (Zito Media); 509 homes or businesses (42.74% of the county’s 1,191 eligible locations).
• Transylvania: Citizens Telephone Company (Comporium Communications); 473 homes or businesses (31.94% of the county’s 1,481 eligible locations).
• Yancey: French Broad Electric Membership Corporation; 576 homes or businesses (80.67% of the county’s 714 eligible locations)

As part of Governor Stein’s initiative to close the digital divide, these awards will be added in April 2025 to NCDIT’s dashboards, which show details and progress on programs funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act. The awards add to the existing $516 million in Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) grants, as well as previous CAB projects that will connect close to 190,000 North Carolina households and businesses to high-speed internet.