Broadband Availability in Rabun County

In the 21st Century, adequate broadband connectivity has become essential to business, education, healthcare, agriculture, and overall quality of life. Unfortunately, 22.3 percent of Americans in rural areas and 27.7 percent of Americans in Tribal lands lack coverage from fixed terrestrial 25/3 Mbps broadband, as compared to only 1.5 percent of Americans in urban areas, according to a recent report by the Federal Communications Commission. High-speed internet access remains somewhat deficient for Georgians in many rural communities (primarily because of population density, which directly impacts carrier network expansion due to build-out cost and maintenance issues). Rabun County is an exception, with 13% currently unserved (GDCA 2022 Broadband Study/based on broadband fixed terrestrial service with 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps down per census block).

Recognizing the importance of broadband availability to all Georgians, in 2018, the State General Assembly passed SB402, also known as Achieving Connectivity Everywhere (ACE), creating the Georgia Broadband Deployment Initiative. The initiative calls for the promotion and deployment of broadband services throughout the state to unserved areas with a minimum of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds.

Reliable and affordable high-speed internet e-Connectivity, or electronic connectivity, is fundamental for economic activity. Access to high-speed internet in Rabun County is vital for a diverse set of industries from agricultural production to manufacturing and acts as a catalyst for rural prosperity by enabling efficient, modern communications between rural American households, schools, and healthcare centers, as well as markets and customers around the world.

Recently, Forward Rabun has written a support letter for Habersham Electric Membership Corporation’s (HEMC’s) request for funding from the “Middle Mile Grant Program.” If successful, this grant funding will be a critical factor in assisting the county with future economic growth, business relocations, educational applications, residential growth, and expansions of the area’s last mile network needs (especially beneficial for current underserved residents and entrepreneurial home-based businesses).

It should continue to be a major objective that Rabun County encourages and takes advantage of every opportunity (including state and federal grant programs) to fund the expansion of high-speed Internet bandwidth service to key businesses and business areas throughout the county (including expansion of high-speed internet bandwidth service to all educational facilities in Rabun County). This can be fostered by continuing to work with the appropriate telecom entities and state/federal agencies to rapidly implement technology improvements, including the expansion of wi-fi or wi-max where feasibly possible.