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BrightRidge is funding a new broadband expansion that will bring internet service to another 1,051 rural locations in Washington County.
Officials with BrightRidge said the broadband expansion is made possible by work the utility did last year with the help of $2.47 million in Tennessee Emergency Broadband grants it received in August from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
BrightRidge matched that grant funding, which was part of the Coronavirus Relief Fund, with $617,828 in local funds to bring the total cost of the project to $3,089,143.
According to a news release from the utility on Thursday, fiber trunk lines installed under the grant funding have allowed BrightRidge to provide broadband to additional customers in need of better internet service.
BrightRidge is now providing free high-speed internet service to 28 public Wi-Fi hotspots, including at all 16 of Washington Countyâs schools and three schools in Johnson City.
In addition, a state grant has allowed the utility to provide free Wi-Fi to community centers at the Appalachian Fairgrounds in Gray, Bowmantown Ruritan Club, Limestone Ruritan Club, Leesburg Ruritan Club, Oak Glen Community Center and Telford Ruritan Club.
BrightRidge has also used funds from the grant to provide 10-gigabit fiber optic service to underserved areas of the county. That includes to 243 customers in the Bowmantown community.
The utility is now able to offer a hybrid fiber/wireless service to 50 customers in the Key Mills and Pleasant Valley neighborhoods of Washington County.