REGIONAL BROADBAND LOOP CONTRACT IN WORKS!

Local and regional economic development officials are working with a provider to finalize a contract for building and operating a broadband loop through Stephens and surrounding counties.

Stephens County Development Authority Executive Director Tim Martin said that the Georgia Department of Community Affairs has approved the North Georgia Network as the agency that the Joint Development Authority of Stephens, Franklin, and Hart counties will work with on the six-county broadband loop.

Martin said work on setting up the official contract is getting underway.

“I suspect it will take us 30 to 60 days to get the contract language just right,” said Martin. “I suspect it will take 30 to 60 days for NGN to then mobilize and start the construction activities.”

The North Georgia Network, which has an office in Clarkesville, already operates a high-speed broadband loop through a number of north Georgia counties.

The Joint Development Authority of Stephens, Franklin, and Hart counties has received a $1 million equity grant from OneGeorgia to go towards building what eventually would be a 150-mile, $10 million fiber loop through Stephens, Franklin, Hart, Banks, Habersham, and Rabun counties.

About $800,000 of the money is a straight grant, while $150,000 comes in the form of a loan to the JDA and $50,000 of the money would be matching funds put up by the JDA.

According to Martin, the North Georgia Network will pay off the $150,000 loan, meaning the JDA will now have to only secure the $50,000 in cash for matching funds. Martin says he will be working to secure that $50,000.

The first leg of the project has been defined as building 18 miles of the loop from Hollywood, Georgia in Habersham County, where the North Georgia Network already has broadband, to Toccoa.

However, Martin said that as other broadband providers improve their networks, that may change and the grant money may be used elsewhere to build out as much as possible in as efficient a manner as possible.

He pointed to TruVista, a South Carolina company, which recently purchased Northland Communications in Toccoa and has been building onto its broadband network.

“NGN is going to have to be smart, and they can be, to make sure that we are not overbuilding something that is already there,” said Martin, who added this is not about creating competition for companies that are already in place.

Martin said that the North Georgia Network was one of two providers to submit a proposal for the project. He said the other was TruVista Communications. According to Martin, both proposals were very strong.

Martin went on to say that building out increased broadband connectivity will have economic development benefits for the region. 

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