A long-term goal of politicians at nearly all levels, rural broadband expansion is continuing in Georgia thanks to Ocmulgee EMC, which announced plans on Tuesday to provide broadband service for up to 8,000 members in central Georgia. The goal is to ultimately provide all of Ocmulgee’s membership with fiber internet, a critical component of which is funding but Tuesday’s announcement continues the expansion.
“When I ran for Governor in 2018, I promised to bring opportunity to all Georgians, no matter their zip code,” said Governor Brian Kemp. “We’ve seen vast expansions of broadband internet access across rural Georgia, connecting our citizens to a wide network of resources and opening doors. I commend Ocmulgee EMC and Conexon for this exciting public-private partnership and their commitment to creating value for their communities.”
The funding for the new expansion came from a $19 million grant from the American Rescue Plan Act, passed by the Biden administration in March of last year. Conexon Connect is an internet service provider which will be deploying possibly more than 2,000 miles of fiber cable across Laurens, Dodge, Bleckley, Pulaski and Telfair counties. The project is expected to break ground in September of this year, with a generous completion estimate of 2-4 years.
The new fiber network will offer members “symmetrical Gigabit” capabilities – meaning the same very high download and upload speeds. This capability will be a boost for businesses in central Georgia and help companies focused on technology. Anyone who has tried to access the internet or make a telephone call in central Georgia knows the sometimes difficulty of such a task. The new internet will provide clearer phone service, as well as enables smart grid capabilities to electrical infrastructure. The benefits of that will include improved outage response times, better load balancing and more efficient electricity delivery.
“I’m thrilled for the members of Ocmulgee EMC who got some great news with today’s announcement,” said State Sen. Larry Walker III. “The Senate has made expanding broadband access across our state a top priority and it’s exciting to see projects like this happening in middle Georgia.”
The similarities to the era of rural electrification during the FDR administration are striking, with state and federal governments cooperating on expanding critical technology to rural areas where the incentive for full private work are limited and not enough to warrant action without government assistance. Ocmulgee EMC itself was founded in 1938, almost certainly a product of the rural electrification project.
“Broadband access is essential,” said Congressman Austin Scott. “My colleagues and I have worked for years to help provide access for underserved areas and I applaud the Governor’s office, the EMCs, and the companies that are investing in communities here in Georgia’s 8th District and across the state.”
To get an idea of the scope of Georgia’s broadband availability, you can see a full map from the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia here:
https://broadband.georgia.gov/2022-georgia-broadband-availability-map
