Country Cablevision Gets $25.3 Million Broadband Recovery Grant
Story and Photos: Courtesy of the Yancey Common Times Journal Yancey and Mitchell counties will soon have a new highway that increases connectivity and business activities all across their isolated rural communities. It is not a paved road but it is one that many people have longed for even more than a four-lane highway. Coming to 97 percent of the two counties through a three-year project funded by federal recovery money is a high-speed information highway. Farmers in remote areas can promote and sell their products, as can the hundreds of artists who live and work in the two counties. Garages, trucking businesses, and the many other enterprises and home-based businesses that are scattered throughout these rural counties will be connected not only to their customers but the rest of the outside world. School children and college students can access and download information at lightning speed. Average citizens can communicate and access information with the touch of a mouse. Grandparents can quickly download photos of their grandchildren. Almost every home in the county will benefit from the new high-speed highway that is coming through the area. An announcement was made last Thursday by Gov. Bev Perdue and U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that a local project was included in $83 million for five federal recovery grants to extend broadband connectivity in rural areas of the state. "Critical infrastructure improvements, such as increasing broadband access, are key to boosting local economies and creating jobs," said Gov. Perdue. "Just last week during my visits to WNC I heard very clearly how important high-speed Internet is to the quality of life in North Carolina, especially in underserved and rural areas." Country Cablevision of Burnsville was awarded a $25.3 million Broadband Stimulus Grant for its Yancey-Mitchell Rural Broadband (YMRB) Project. This grant will promote social and economic development in two Western North Carolina counties by delivering critically needed digital services -- video, data and voice over Internet protocol. More than 33,000 people, approximately 1900 local businesses and 120 community institutions stand to benefit from this improved service. Not only will this three-year project create jobs upfront, it will help drive economic development in the communities, as well as create jobs for the future, according to Country Cablevision owner Ray Vance Miller. Miller extended his thanks to the efforts by the Yancey Broadband Task Force and county government for supporting the company's efforts. Miller was able to thank Gov. Perdue in person when she visited Yancey recently. The governor wrote a letter of support for Country Cablevision's application. "Country Cablevision is proud to have this opportunity to assist the economic development and overall growth of our community," said Bryan Hyder, operations manager for the company. The funding will be split between the two counties to roll out the infrastructure. Country Cablevision Inc., founded by Yancey County native Ray Vance Miller, is a long-established local cable TV and cable internet and phone service provider headquartered in the remote Pensacola community. The company already provides services to many areas of the two counties. Miller called County Manager Nathan Bennett when he received the news last Thursday. "I was so excited when Ray Vance called that I hardly knew what to say. Ray was about the same way. This has taken a tremendous amount of work and we were just overcome with excitement that this massive project for Yancey's infrastructure could actually move forward," Bennett said. Sherry McCuller, broadband task force member and managing director of Peregrine Management Partners in South Toe, a firm that supplies engineering, planning and deployment services to rural fiber networks, said, "This is a great day for Yancey County, and one for the history books. We now have a powerful new tool in our economic development toolbox, and our citizens and their children will have access to broadband connectivity equal to or even better than metro areas of the state." She added, "State-of-the-art, fiber-to-the-home infrastructure and advanced services for our county would never have been possible without federal stimulus funding, but the efforts of our county leaders, county management, volunteer task force, citizens and, of course, Country Cablevision were equally important. Yancey County is proof that research, informed and effective strategies, unity, commitment and hard work produce success." Ray Vance Miller agrees. "Our company would never have been able to bring this vital infrastructure to these communities without the support of this stimulus grant." Country Cablevision will receive a 75 percent grant and 25 percent loan funds for the cost of extending "last mile" fiber to the home (FTTH), providing speeds up to 20 MBs and up to 100MBs in the future as needed. No matching funds are required from the county. McCuller explained where it all started. "Yancey County was listed as having over 90 percent broadband coverage in 2007. We all worked hard together (headed by then EDC director Gwen Harris and County Manager Michele Lawhern) to disprove that notion and to show instead that our county was underserved." Taking that early action to set the record straight made the county eligible for broadband stimulus funding. "Soon Yancey County really will have over 90 percent broadband coverage – and ultra-fast broadband at that! We didn't settle for a low-cost, watered-down solution that would soon be obsolete just because we're rural and sparsely populated, and we should all be very proud of that," McCuller added. Walter Savage, chair of the Yancey commissioners, said, "I want to express my appreciation to each and every one for their dedicated work on this project. This investment of stimulus dollars into Yancey County's infrastructure will have a beneficial impact on everyone including the traditional business community, home-based businesses and farms, schools, and the citizens of Yancey County who until now have not had access to high speed internet service. There were many hours spent working on this project by Ray Miller and his staff at Country Cablevision as well as the county's broadband task force. It is amazing at what can be accomplished when folks come together with a willingness to work together for the good of their community." County Planner Jamie McMahan, who chaired the Yancey Broadband Task Force, said, "I'd like to thank Ray Miller and his staff for all of their hard work and dedication in pursuing this grant funding. Country Cablevision has always been one of the greatest assets of the Yancey County business community. I would also like to express my thanks to the taskforce members who worked to assist in helping to make this project a reality. I'm so proud of everybody involved in this effort. Despite difficult economic times, and an extremely competitive nation-wide grant process, we've been able to pull together as a community to accomplish this and many other projects regardless of the odds being against a community of our size. That determination makes me proud to say I'm from Yancey County." County Manager Nathan Bennett added, "This award reflects the true spirit of the Recovery Act: a local Yancey County company is using these funds to put people to work on a project to provide much-needed broadband internet access to our community. This is an investment in Yancey County that will turn over time and time again in our local economy." Jake Blood, Yancey's Economic Development Commission director, explained that Country Cablevision winning the grant is fantastic news for the local economy on several fronts. "First, Country Cablevision is a local, family-owned business and this grant means jobs for our community. Second, broadband is a critical component of our infrastructure just like roads, electricity, water and sewer; if we want to attract and keep businesses and industry, we need the robust broadband capability Country Cablevision can now bring. And third, it used to be that you had to be in Burnsville or on Hwy19 to get fast broadband, now Country Cablevision will be able to bring broadband to all our family business located throughout the county allowing us all to compete globally whether you live in town or in Bee Log." The Task Force is a broadly representative advisory group including members from government, education, health, public safety, economic development, agriculture, real estate, arts and crafts, local business, internet technology professionals, and citizens at large.
The need for improved internet services and correction of previous overstatements of coverage in the county was documented through a comprehensive survey in the spring of 2009 by the group Yancey Citizen Volunteers for a Better Tomorrow. On the recommendation of the group, county commissioners established the Broadband Task Force in March 2009 to find the most effective ways to bring expanded internet services to all areas of the county. The county and Country Cablevision lost out in the first round of broadband funding but the grant was re-written and submitted in March for the final round of funding. |
Members of the Yancey County Broadband Planning Task Force are County Planner Jamie McMahan, Rick Crout (town), Jake Blood (EDC), Colby Martin (school system), Lynda Kinnane (healthcare), Bill Davis (public safety), Rita Earley (MCC), Daniel Barron (Yancey Library), Denise Baker (Extension Service), Peggy Roger (Yancey Chamber), and community members Wanda Proffitt, Janice McKinney, Sherry McCuller, Alan Orovitz and Raven Tata.