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Stimulus funds available for broadband access [The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.C.](Daily News (Jacksonville, NC) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sep. 30--Stimulus funds intended for providing broadband access to parts of coastal Carolina could be applied to Onslow and Carteret counties -- but the counties may not need it. Federal stimulus money in the amount of $7.9 billion has been designated to assist communication companies in bringing broadband access to rural areas nationwide. More than 40 companies have applied to serve North Carolina alone, with stimulus money scheduled to be allocated in October. But while coastal N.C. is one of the regions targeted for the project, directors of information technology in Onslow and Carteret counties said these areas are already fairly well-served. Onslow County's director of IT, Phil Turner, said he didn't believe that a large part of Onslow County was underserved. However, he did cite a few areas he knew that required dial-up internet access, including regions near the Albert Ellis Airport in Richlands. The interim IT director for Carteret County, Pat Kirk, said that the county was not planning to pursue broadband funding. Citing the semi-rural nature of the county and the needs of its residents, he said that most people who didn't have speedy Internet access "learned to live with it." "I have not heard from anybody that we have areas that broadband doesn't reach," he said. A non-profit organization that works to create public-private partnerships to bring broadband access to rural areas, Connected Nation published a series of maps of broadband availability in North Carolina. These maps, last updated in July, show that only a small portion of Onslow County, bordering Jones County in the northeast corner, was completely unserved by either broadband or mobile wireless service. Small patches of unserved areas in Carteret County are located along the coast and peninsulas. Joe Mefford of Connected Nation said the overall coverage in the two counties would not necessarily deter a private company from attempting to reach the few unserved regions. But a dearth of demand and the free market may serve to keep the status quo in Onslow and Carteret. Kirk said recently Time Warner had explored undertaking a large fiber optics project in Carteret County. The verdict? "Not commercially reasonable," he said. Contact Hope Hodge at 910-219-8453, or at [email protected]. To see more of The Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jacksonvilledailynews.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |