Through a partnership with Lumos, Orange County has been able to provide broadband internet service to 1,500 previously unserved rural homes and businesses since the partnership began in 2022 with a $10 million investment from the County's American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Lumos, a 100 percent fiber optic internet and total home Wi-Fi provider based in High Point, won a competitive bid from the County to allow them to enter this partnership, according to Derek Kelly, vice president of market development for Lumos.
He said Lumos’ main focus has been on the northern part of the county, where the majority of unserved communities are. The company is now expanding its work — which will continue through 2025 — to the southern part.
So far, he said 3,000 previously unserved homes and businesses have the chance to receive broadband internet. Of this number, 1,500 have officially signed up.
Outside of areas like Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough, Orange County is predominantly rural, which is why these connectivity issues exist, Derek Kelly said.
“The idea is the public funding can help make a rural area look like an area that's a little bit more densely populated, like a suburb area or small community,” he said.
Derek Kelly said Lumos had to do engineering work to determine where the networks would be placed and built first. Over the last nine months, he said they have worked to put the fiber in the ground and in the air. Some small rural businesses, he said, have not been able to process credit cards or upload large files due to their lack of internet connectivity, and that the partnership will give their businesses the fiber access they need.
Michael Kelly, the director of collaborative broadband and innovation for NC Rural Center, said there can often be barriers to education, telehealth, employment and economic development without adequate access to internet access.
“We at the rural center kind of consider broadband to be really a physical asset similar to water and wastewater,” he said.
