Allendale Broadband Pilot Project Brings Fixed Wireless to South Carolina Community Posted on Share
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The South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS), in conjunction with several public and private entities, this week completed a pilot project that provides residential broadband to families with K-12 students and establishes public WiFi hubs in Allendale County. The public-private South Carolina project, known as the Allendale Broadband Pilot Porject, used fixed wireless technology to quickly connect families with K-12 students that previously did not have broadband available to them.
The goal of the pilot project, which began in November 2020, was to see how quickly wireless Internet infrastructure could be deployed using state assets.
By Colin McCawley
The South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff along with state, local and private-sector partners have launched a broadband project bringing Wi-Fi access to 1,000 homes in 60 days where no access existed before in rural Allendale County.
“We did two things for Allendale County, we provided free public Wi-Fi,” said Jim Stritzinger, Broadband Director of the ORS. “The second thing we did was we installed the first private LTE network in South Carolina.
Through the CARES Act, the ORS was granted $50 Million for Broadband Infrastructure Programs. As part of this expansion of infrastructure, the ORS funded a $393,104 Allendale Broadband Pilot Project to expand broadband access in Allendale County.
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Dominion Energy first-quarter 2021 earnings conference call. [Operator instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Steven Ridge, vice president, investor relations.
Steven Ridge
Vice President, Investor Relations
Thank you, David, and thanks to everyone for joining today s call. Earnings materials, including today s prepared remarks, may contain forward-looking statements and estimates that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Please refer to our SEC filings, including our most recent annual reports on Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for a discussion of factors that may cause results to differ from management s estimates and expectations. This morning, we ll discuss some measures of our company s performance that differ from those recognized by GAAP.
Billions of dollars could soon be bringing faster internet to South Carolina s rural areas.
There are large parts of Pickens County where there is no internet access, and across the state at least half a million people can t get the internet speed that makes distance learning, remote work and telehealth possible.
Money is already flowing.
A $30 million state fund for rural broadband expansion projects opened up to applications Thursday. The state spent about $50 million in CARES Act money on related projects last year.
Gov. Henry McMaster has proposed another $30 million for broadband improvements. The state is using $6 million in federal COVID funds to set up eight Internet labs in areas with limited or no access.
Funds could bring faster internet to South Carolina s rural areas independentmail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from independentmail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.