CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Brightspeed announced Thursday that it has been awarded $1.5 million to expand its Brightspeed Fiber Internet network to nearly 2,400 more locations in Trumbull County.
“We are excited to see years of hard work pay off with this partnership and to have Trumbull County residents who have traditionally been unserved or underserved receive a broadband connection directly to their front door,” Julie Green, director of the Trumbull County Planning Commission, said in a news release.
The award is in addition to the more than $12.3 million in local, state and federal funding already awarded to Brightspeed to connect nearly 5,900 homes and businesses in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Allen, Ashtabula, Knox and Shelby counties.
“Eastgate is excited to support this project and commends Trumbull County’s dedication to investing in broadband infrastructure for its residents,” said Jim Kinnick, executive director of Eastgate Regional Council of Governments.
To date, Brightspeed has been awarded $13.8 million in funding from the Ohio Residential Broadband Expansion Grant program, funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, the Broadband Expansion Authority and BroadbandOhio to expand its fiber network in the state.
“We already offer Brightspeed Fiber Internet to more than 190,000 families and businesses in Ohio and we continue to bring our state-of-the-art fiber network to more locations every day,” said Tom Simone, Brightspeed state and local government affairs director in Ohio. “We have an unwavering commitment to bridging the digital divide, and thanks to this additional funding, we can further expand our planned network build to give more Ohioans the connectivity they need at home to learn and work and for their businesses to thrive.”
Overall, Brightspeed has been awarded more than $240 million in local, state and federal broadband grants, including the company’s first Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program award from the state of Louisiana.
“In today’s hyper-connected digital world, families and businesses need high-speed internet service to compete and thrive,” said Pamela Sherwood, Brightspeed broadband office vice president. “Expanding access to faster, affordable, more reliable and user-friendly internet has never been more important, whether for work, education, telemedicine, entertainment or simply staying connected, and these grant and subsidy programs are helping us give families and businesses what they need.”