LEE COUNTY, Ala. (WTVM) – Lee County has launched a broadband expansion grant program in 2023 to provide high-speed internet to rural areas of the county. The county voted to allocate more than $4 million from the American Rescue Plan Act for broadband projects.
The idea is to provide internet service providers with a certain amount of funding to encourage them to expand coverage to rural areas.
“We’re looking at construction, expansion and expansion of existing broadband networks,” Holley Leverette said.
Leverette is Lee County’s chief administrative officer. The first phase of the project has three different service providers expanding into Salem, Lochapoca and south-central Lee counties, she said.
“We were able to see some really unserved areas, no internet at all,” she said.
Madison Harrison Junior lives in Salem, an area that was part of the Phase 1 expansion and is part of Phase 2.
“I get it through phone service T-Mobile. That’s the only one we have right now,” Harrison said.
Leverette said they allowed Internet Service Providers (IS-Ps) to show them areas with little to no internet.
“ISPs do need to apply,” Leverette said. “It’s putting money in their hands. It’s giving them a say in the areas they see.”
Harrison said there are no service providers where he lives.
“Spectrum had it, but they stopped about a quarter of a mile away. They’d never been in this area. I don’t know if they would have gone further down the road, but not this far. If we could get it in the area, that would help a lot,” he said.
Lee County officials said the application deadline is May 10. They hope to have a contract with a service provider by June so work can begin in the fall.
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