Federal officials said Madison County will benefit from a $3 million grant to support high-speed internet. | Stock Photo
Federal officials said Madison County will benefit from a $3 million grant to support high-speed internet. | Stock Photo
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Purdue said a federal grant was awarded to provide high-speed internet service for rugged and mountainous rural areas of Madison County.
"While a lot of people love to come up here and live with this temperature and weather and climate, and, working from home, they've got to have connectivity,” Purdue told ABC13 News for a July 27 report. “So, we know, whether it's telemedicine or distance learning or e-commerce or precision agriculture."
The grant money is part of $100 million in federal funding to help communities during the COVID-19 pandemic under the ReConnect Pilot Program in the Coronavirus, Aid Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).
Jeff Loven of the French Broad Electric Membership, an electricity provider cooperative based in Marshal, said the new service should be on-line by the end of the year, ABC13 reported. He predicted all of Madison County would be connected within two years.
Purdue called it a major gain.
“I am so proud of our rural communities who have been working day in and day out, just like they always do, producing the food and fiber America depends on,” he told ABC13. “We need them more than ever during these trying times, and expanding access to this critical infrastructure will help ensure rural America prospers for years to come.”
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