Newton County got some good news when TEC announced plans to expand its high-speed broadband access into Newton County.
The company is spending a total of $14 million to bring 250 megabit per second internet (upload and download) to around 3,200 residences and customers.
“We went after everyone five and a half million dollars, and we are going to invest eight and a half million, the approximate bill. Approximately 325 miles of fiber will be installed in Newton county and provide gigabit internet speeds to over 3,200 businesses and residences,” said Lisa Wigington, vice president of strategic operations at TEC.
At the end of their presentation, they asked the Newton County Board of Supervisors to help them with an investment to bring additional customers online.
The Newton County Board of Supervisors will be getting approximately $4 million from the federal government in COVID-19 relief funding. Part of the infrastructure tag on the funding can be used to help bring high-speed internet into the county.
Obviously, all of that money should not go toward internet, but the county should seriously look into that as a viable option. Availability of high-speed internet is just as valuable as having good roads in the county. Too many people, especially in our rural areas, do not have internet, much less reliable access to phone service.
This is a huge deal for our county. However, not all of that should go to just one company who may only serve a portion of the county. It would be a good idea to meet with all of the local internet providers and see what their plans for expanding internet will be in our area. That includes Decatur Telephone Company, MaxxSouth, AT&T and others who provide internet.
Then after meeting with those players, then the board of supervisors should decide how much of an investment they want to make and split it up as needed to give the county the biggest bang for its buck.
While the COVID-19 pandemic is beginning to subside nationwide, the demand for internet is only going to continue to skyrocket. We need to be prepared for the next round of company investment, and the only way to do that is to make sure that all of Newton County can have access to some kind of internet access.
That will only better prepare us to lure new businesses to our area and also help the businesses that are here to compete in the new digital age of commerce.
