The Yadkin Valley Telephone Membership Corp. will use a $2.3 million federal grant to increase high-speed Internet access to rural areas. | Adobe Stock
The Yadkin Valley Telephone Membership Corp. will use a $2.3 million federal grant to increase high-speed Internet access to rural areas. | Adobe Stock
A Yadkinville-based communications company will benefit from $2.3 million in federal funding to bring high-speed Internet access to rural parts of North Carolina, including in Davie County.
The federal funding went to Yadkin Valley Telephone Membership Corporation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in an October release.
The funding will help the company to pay for a fiber-to-the-premises network, the release said.
The federal $2.3 million comes through the ReConnect grant that Congress started specifically to increase rural broadband access throughout the United States, the release said — a need that was significantly highlighted with remote learning because of COVID-19.
"Access to high-speed internet is a cornerstone of prosperity, and unfortunately, many of America's rural communities lack access to this critical infrastructure," USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Bette Brand said in the release.
The Yadkin Valley Telephone Membership Corporation project aims to provide high-speed broadband internet access to 5,686 people, 67 farms and 18 businesses in Davie, Yadkin and Iredell counties, the release said.
"Connecting America's rural communities to this essential infrastructure is one of USDA's top priorities because we know that when rural America thrives, all of America thrives," Brand said in the release.
Congress has allocated $550 million for the ReConnect program, the release said.
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