Ivey awards $9.5 million in grants to expand broadband access

Gov. Kay Ivey announced on Tuesday that she has awarded more than $9.5 million to go toward expanding high-speed internet access around the state.

Ivey awarded 20 grants to nine broadband providers as part of the Alabama Broadband Accessibility Fund, according to a release from her office.

These grants resulted from the 2019 round of applications and are administered through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.

“Availability of high-speed internet has always been vital, but the events of the past several weeks magnify just how imperative it is that all Alabamians have access to broadband,” Ivey said. “I am pleased to support these projects and look forward to the day when every household, school, healthcare facility, emergency service and business throughout Alabama is afforded broadband availability.”

The fund was created through the Alabama Broadband Accessibility Act, passed by the legislature, and signed into law by Ivey, in 2018. Its purpose is to spur economic development and improve the quality of life in the state’s rural areas by increasing high-speed internet access.

The requirement for remote learning during the COVID-19 crisis has only hastened the need to expand the state’s efforts.

“As our day-to-day way of living has been impacted over the past few weeks, it has underscored the value and necessity of high-speed broadband services,” emphasized ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell. “That is something that Governor Ivey, the Legislature and ADECA have been working to address through the Broadband Accessibility Fund. ADECA takes its role in administering this program seriously and is honored to be entrusted with the responsibility.”

State Sen. Clay Scofield (R-Guntersville), a long-time champion for rural broadband expansion, recently expressed similar sentiment.

“I don’t think anything else could have brought the issue more to light than [COVID-19] — on something I’ve been jumping up and down, screaming about for a long, long time. And that is narrowing the digital divide in the state of Alabama,” Scofield remarked to radio host Jeff Poor. “You know, roughly only almost one-fifth of the state doesn’t have access to high-speed internet. And you know, that really — those areas of the state are making it difficult to make a decision on what our students are going to do for the rest of the school year, just in case they can’t go back to school.”

While the 2019 grants will continue roll-out, the next round of expansion from 2020 applications has hit a roadblock.

Fourteen of the applications for the first round of this year’s grants have been challenged by other providers, according to ADECA.

Scofield questioned the motive of those issuing bulk challenges to grant applications. He believes the intent is “to slow them down.”

“They don’t want to service rural Alabama, but they don’t want anyone else to pick up any market share,” he elaborated.

Now is not the time, he believes, to slow the process down.

“I’ve been working on the issue for six years now,” Scofield explained. “This year, if all the grants go through at ADECA, they could hook up about 86,000 more entities. I think, ‘If we could have been doing that for the last five years, where we could be right now?’ This expansion does not need to be slowed down right now, we need to be ramping it up and the coronavirus situation is proof positive as to why.”

Below is a full list of grants awarded by Ivey this round:

Central Alabama Electric Cooperative – $224,175 to provide broadband services in north Lowndes County including 301 households and 15 businesses.

Central Alabama Electric Cooperative – $289,100 for service in southwest Autauga and southeast Dallas counties including 343 households and 38 businesses.

Central Alabama Electric Cooperative – $480,200 for service in northwest Autauga, northeast Dallas and south Chilton counties including nearly 500 households and 31 businesses.

Central Alabama Electric Cooperative – $682,325 for service adjacent to the town of Billingsley in Autauga County which includes 656 households and 45 businesses.

Central Alabama Electric Cooperative – $1.06 million for service in Chilton County south of the city of Clanton and north of the town of Billingsley which is in neighboring Autauga County. The project will offer service to 1,093 households and 41 businesses.

Central Alabama Electric Cooperative – $557,987 for service in north-central Autauga County and parts of south-central Chilton County to include service offerings to 743 households and 21 businesses.

Central Alabama Electric Cooperative – $531,650 for service in southeast Chilton County, northeast Autauga County and northwest Elmore County including 509 households and 17 businesses.

Central Alabama Electric Cooperative – $279,300 for service in northwest Chilton County and east Bibb County including 409 households and 12 businesses.

Charter Communications – $336,830 for service in the town of Autaugaville in Autauga County including 641 household and 14 businesses.

Comcast of Alabama – $820,750 to service the Town of Dauphin Island in Mobile County including 2,500 households and 24 businesses.

Hayneville Telephone Co. – $205,705 for service in Lowndes County’s Black Belt and Hicks Hill communities including 258 households and four businesses.

Hayneville Telephone Co. – $125,671 for service in an area southeast of the town of Hayneville including 187 households and one business.

Hayneville Telephone Co. – $143,265 for service southwest of the town of Hayneville including 191 households and two businesses.

Hayneville Fiber Transport Inc. (Camellia Communications) – $90,072 for service in the Butler County community of Poorhouse community northeast of the city of Greenville.

JTM Broadband – $404,414 for service in Lauderdale County east of the town of Killen including 1,303 households and 247 businesses.

Mon-Cre Telephone Cooperative – $529,707 for service in north Crenshaw County and south Montgomery County including 350 households.

National Telephone of Alabama – $357,171 for service in the Red Rock community in Colbert County including 205 households and six businesses.

Roanoke Telephone Co. – $308,882 – for service in an area of south Randolph County between the municipalities of Roanoke and Wadley including 269 households and four businesses.

Troy Cablevision – $1.38 million for service in parts of Coffee, Covington, Geneva and Houston counties including 1,190 households and 80 businesses.

Troy Cablevision – $750,625 for service in parts of Coffee, Crenshaw and Pike counties including 603 households and 38 businesses.