Maury County draws $17 million for broadband expansion in rural areas thanks to grant
Maury County will pull in $17 million from a state infrastructure grant funneled to United Telephone Company to light up the rural outskirts with high-speed internet service, according to a news release.
United Telephone Company was granted $53,362,147 in total that will go toward upgrading broadband infrastructure in Bedford, Giles, Lincoln, Moore, Maury, and Williamson counties.
Stuart McWhorter, commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, along with Gov. Bill Lee announced the results of the two-year-long process, awarding $446,770,282 in state broadband grants to expand internet access across 58 counties, affecting 150,000 unserved homes.
At the recent Maury County Commission’s monthly budget meeting Monday night, United Communications committed to contributing 15% toward the Maury County project, while the remaining 70% will come from the grant.
The total cost for the expansion that makes up those percentages will be $24,663,826.
While a timeline of three years was given to complete the project, the Maury County Office of Financial Management bolstered the announcement on social media with the added detail that the finish date will come at some point during the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Origins of bigger broadband
The grant is the first part of a nationwide commitment to strengthening the infrastructure under President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.
This effort trickled down locally to Project UNITE, with Duck River Electric and United Communications partnering for the end goal of providing high-speed internet to every Middle Tennessee home and business.
Commissioners last year toggled between options, trying to secure funds for the costly project. While funds at the time were not available to supply broadband to nearly a quarter of the unserved population in Maury County, a grant was discussed at that time as being the missing piece of that puzzle, The Daily Herald previously reported.
The missing piece of the puzzle fell into place this week with the announcement that citizen letters of support contributed greatly to the win for the county, as Maury County surpassed all other counties in the number of letters submitted.
United Communications has already committed $3.7 million toward the fiber expansion arm of the undertaking and last year a Change.org petition garnered 1,200 supporters from within Maury County.
“Through the efforts of Project UNITE, we have taken a tremendous step forward in expanding broadband to the most underserved rural residents in Maury County,” Duck River Electric President and CEO, Scott Spence stated in the release.
Mayor Sheila Butt also weighed in on the soon-coming broadband expansion.
“It is great news that Maury County, in partnership with Duck River Electric Membership Cooperative, United Communications, and a state grant of over $17 million dollars will begin the large-scale project of bringing broadband to the underserved areas of Maury County,” Butt said.
“We have looked forward to making that happen for a long time. We will be hearing more details soon and look forward to keeping the people of Maury County updated on projected plans and future progress.”
This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Maury Co. draws $17 million for broadband expansion in rural areas
