West Georgia partnership seen as possible model for rural broadband By Jay Stone
As early as 2021, SyncGlobal Telecom workers will hang cable in Heard and Carroll counties to improve broadband access to these counties. | Photo courtesy of SyncGlobal Telecom When Heard County Farm Bureau President Ralph Caldwell considers what he can do with the limited internet access he has, the disparity between his area near the Alabama line and Georgia’s urban areas is hard to ignore. “I feel poor,” Caldwell said. Caldwell has 17 poultry houses, raises cattle and grows row crops; the spotty internet access he does have is a barrier to efficiently running his farm. “I would like to connect all of my chicken houses to here,” he said, noting that highspeed internet would allow him to monitor conditions in the chicken houses from his home. “With the access we have, that just isn’t feasible.” He buys and sells cattle via online video auctions, but again, if his internet shuts down, it poses a challenge, whether he’s bidding on cattle or confirming sales. Caldwell recently purchased land bordering
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his farm with a house on the property. He tried to get his son Colton to move his family from his home in nearby Franklin to the new property. Colton declined, Caldwell said, because of the poor internet.
Cut off in the country In 2018, a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) survey measured internet connectivity across the country using the Ookla Speed Test (www.speedtest.net). The survey showed 80.3% of rural Georgians have access to fixed terrestrial broadband internet service (home or office), defined by the FCC as at least 25 megabits per second (mbps) download speed and 3 mbps upload (expressed as 25/3 mbps). By comparison, 97.9% of Georgians in urban areas have access to 25/3 internet. The survey results showed 100% of the state has 5/1 mobile LTE access. In rural areas, 82.3% of Georgians
Heard County Farm Bureau President Ralph Caldwell has run into multiple issues stemming from poor internet service. | Photo by Ann Caldwell have access to 10/3 internet while 98.1% of the state’s urban residents have 10/3 access. The levels of 25/3 and 5/1 access vary widely. The survey showed 18 Georgia counties, all of them rural, where fewer than 50% of residents had 25/3 fixed and 5/1 mobile access. In five counties, less than 10% of the population had 25/3 and 5/1 access. In Heard County, where the Caldwells live, 58.8% of the residents have 25/3 fixed and 5/1 mobile access. In terms of access percentage, Heard ranked 135th of Georgia’s 159 counties in the FCC survey.
Fiber to the premises On June 25, the USDA awarded a $12.5 million grant to Carroll EMC (CEMC), which provides power to much of Heard County, and SyncGlobal Telecom under the department’s Rural ReConnect program. Through the partnership, areas of southern Carroll County
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