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Connecting North Carolina: Brightspeed Expands Access and Strengthens Communities (Summer 2025)

Broadband and fiber-optic internet form the digital backbone of today’s economy. In regions where fast, reliable connectivity is available, gross domestic product (GDP) grows faster—especially in rural counties. According to a 2021 report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, increasing rural broadband availability by just 10% can raise employment by 0.3% and income per capita by 1.1% over five years. With fiber networks delivering symmetrical speeds and low latency, local businesses gain the bandwidth to expand operations, offer new services, and compete in global markets.

Local job creation also benefits. Data from the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee shows that fiber rollout contributes directly to employment through construction, maintenance, and network operation, and indirectly by enabling remote work and entrepreneurship.

Small Businesses, Students, Patients, and Workers: Real-World Impact

Broadband connectivity goes beyond numbers—it transforms lives on a practical, day-to-day level. In North Carolina towns like Shelby or Rockingham, small businesses that once struggled with slow DSL connections now process online orders in seconds, accept digital payments reliably, and run cloud-based inventory systems that sharpen their competitiveness.

In classrooms, a connected student is an engaged learner. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction links successful digital learning outcomes directly with broadband availability. Vintage dial-up speeds won't support video classrooms or real-time collaboration, but a fiber connection allows high-resolution instruction, STEM simulations, and live tutoring platforms to function without lag.

Healthcare has also shifted dramatically. Telehealth use in North Carolina rose over 300% since 2020. In regions where Brightspeed or similar providers have introduced broadband, rural clinics now connect with specialists remotely, enabling early diagnoses and improved chronic care outcomes. No more driving hours for a 15-minute consultation.

Broadband also enables adults to upskill from home. Whether it's earning a Google Career Certificate or attending virtual welding classes offered by community colleges, a fast connection removes the limitations of geography from workforce development initiatives.

Inclusion for Underserved and Rural Communities

Without broadband, entire regions remain disconnected from modern infrastructure. Rural counties across Eastern and Western North Carolina have long been bypassed by larger providers due to lower population density and return on investment. This digital exclusion didn't just limit streaming options—it locked families out of job applications, government services, and online banking.

New fiber installations are not just technological upgrades; they redefine opportunity. A household in Tarboro with access to fiber internet gains the same tools to study, work, and run a business as one in Raleigh or Charlotte. This closing of the broadband gap levels the playing field for rural counties and opens new channels for civic engagement, innovation, and sustainable development.

Brightspeed's Vision: A New Era of Digital Connectivity

Transforming Possibility Into Progress

Brightspeed has committed to redefining what digital connectivity looks like for people across North Carolina. The company’s long-term vision extends beyond simply expanding access—it seeks to fundamentally reshape how residents and businesses experience internet service. Current deployments are just the beginning. Brightspeed’s mission involves creating a future where fast, reliable digital access is standard, not a privilege.

Mission-Driven Innovation for North Carolina and Beyond

At the core of Brightspeed’s operations sits a clear, relentless purpose: deliver dependable, high-speed internet to communities that have historically been underserved and overlooked. More than 300,000 fiber passings are planned across North Carolina, with thousands already underway. These numbers reflect not just coverage—they represent a deliberate strategy to ignite economic growth, empower remote learning, and enable telehealth services in rural areas.

The vision doesn’t stop at state lines. While North Carolina is a focus, Brightspeed's investments are part of a broader rollout designed to reach over 3 million homes and businesses across 20 states. This scale allows the company to leverage its infrastructure capabilities across regional boundaries without sacrificing local community focus.

Customer-First Broadband: More Than a Business Model

Brightspeed places the customer relationship at the center of all service decisions. This approach translates to simpler billing, consistent speeds, and direct communication. Technical support teams are trained to diagnose issues in real time, while installation processes prioritize efficiency and flexibility for scheduling.

Most notably, the company has eliminated usage data caps across its fiber service portfolio. By removing barriers to usage, Brightspeed enables households to fully participate in modern digital life—whether through streaming, working from home, or accessing educational content.

Built for the Long Haul: Durable Infrastructure at Scale

Brightspeed’s network is designed for scalability, capacity, and long-term sustainability. The company is deploying next-generation XGS-PON (10 Gigabit Symmetric Passive Optical Network) technology, which allows symmetrical download and upload speeds up to 10 Gbps. This architecture not only meets today’s needs but anticipates bandwidth demands well into the future.

By building now with the next decade in mind, Brightspeed ensures communities won’t outgrow their connectivity. This kind of foresight reshapes access from reactive to proactive—ensuring residents stay equipped as digital expectations evolve.

Where traditional approaches fall short, this model of purpose-driven innovation delivers. Every new mile of fiber pushes the boundary of what's possible for North Carolina communities—connecting homes, unlocking opportunity, and opening the next chapter in digital advancement.

Targeting the Gaps: Brightspeed Expands Access in Rural North Carolina

Challenges Faced by Rural Communities Due to Limited Internet Access

Disconnected households in rural North Carolina contend with more than just slow downloads—they face barriers to healthcare, education, and economic participation. According to the Federal Communications Commission's 2023 Broadband Deployment Report, nearly 13% of rural residents in North Carolina lack access to broadband meeting the 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload standard. In comparison, only 1% of urban residents fall into this category.

This gap translates into real consequences. Students struggle to complete online assignments. Farmers can’t fully adopt precision agriculture tools. Small businesses lose out on digital sales channels. Telehealth remains underutilized because of buffering and bandwidth constraints. These limitations restrict opportunity and mobility, reinforcing geographic and socioeconomic divides.

Brightspeed Fiber Broadband: A Solution Tailored for Rural Connectivity

Brightspeed is directly addressing these hurdles by deploying fiber broadband in underserved and unserved areas across the state. The company’s investment prioritizes counties that previously saw limited infrastructure upgrades, particularly in eastern and central North Carolina. With fiber-optic networks capable of delivering symmetrical speeds up to 1 Gbps, users gain uninterrupted video calls, rapid cloud-based workflows, and ultra-low latency device communication.

Engineering teams use local data sets, municipal collaboration, and geographic modeling to reach homes at the last mile—where high upfront costs have historically discouraged private investment. By applying an area-specific approach to design and rollout, Brightspeed expands reliable access where legacy networks have failed to meet demand.

Transforming Daily Life with Fast, Reliable Internet

Once a rural home or business connects to Brightspeed fiber, the impact is immediate. A high school student can stream remote classes without buffering. Local entrepreneurs can schedule inventory shipments, run e-commerce platforms, and process digital payments without connection issues.

In rural America, a reliable internet connection is no longer a luxury or afterthought. Brightspeed’s rural expansion works to eliminate systemic inequalities in digital access—introducing new possibilities for how communities live, work, learn, and thrive.

Fiber Broadband Technology: The Backbone of Tomorrow’s Infrastructure

How Fiber Outpaces Traditional Broadband

Fiber broadband uses thin strands of glass or plastic to transmit data as pulses of light, reaching speeds that far exceed those of copper-based infrastructure. Traditional DSL or cable internet typically offers maximum download speeds between 25 Mbps and 300 Mbps, depending on network congestion and distance from network hubs. In contrast, fiber-optic networks can deliver symmetrical download and upload speeds exceeding 1 Gbps. Some networks, such as Brightspeed’s fiber deployments, are engineered for scalability up to 10 Gbps and beyond.

Latency also tells a decisive story. Fiber achieves round-trip latency as low as 1 millisecond, while cable and DSL connections often range from 20ms to 100ms. For applications that depend on real-time data—video conferencing, precision agriculture, telemedicine, cloud platforms—this gap can define performance.

Building for the Next Century, Not Just the Next Year

Bandwidth demand isn’t plateauing. Cisco’s Annual Internet Report projects that average global internet traffic per user will more than triple between 2023 and 2030. Streaming media in 4K and 8K, autonomous transportation platforms, virtual learning, AI-powered analytics—none of these operate efficiently without vast data throughput and low latency. Fiber broadband delivers both.

Also, fiber doesn’t degrade with distance the same way copper does. Urban centers, suburban neighborhoods, and remote farms receive consistent performance over fiber—reducing the digital disparity between regions. Long-term cost of ownership also tips in fiber’s favor. Fiber cables last over 30 years with minimal signal loss, while copper networks require extensive maintenance and periodic replacement.

Brightspeed’s Commitment to Fiber Infrastructure

Brightspeed has already announced plans to invest a total of $2 billion in network improvements—with a significant share directed to deploying fiber-based digital infrastructure across its 20-state footprint, including North Carolina. Specifically, Brightspeed will bring fiber broadband to more than 300,000 North Carolina homes and businesses in the first phase of construction—many of these located in rural and underserved areas.

This infrastructure is designed for adaptability. Modular network nodes, cloud-based management platforms, and proactive diagnostics enable Brightspeed to respond swiftly to demand increases, area growth, or service improvements—building a network that won’t require major overhauls every decade.

Where will North Carolina be in 2035? With Brightspeed’s fiber in place, the groundwork for next-gen innovation will already be in the ground.

Investing in North Carolina: Infrastructure and Economic Development

Across North Carolina, Brightspeed is channeling significant capital into network infrastructure that reshapes the state’s digital future. These investments support faster, more reliable fiber broadband access while fueling economic momentum in communities long left behind in the digital economy.

High-Impact Infrastructure Projects

Brightspeed’s planned network deployment spans more than 30 counties statewide, with thousands of miles of fiber optic cable now under construction or already installed. In 2023 alone, Brightspeed earmarked over $2 billion for fiber infrastructure across its 20-state footprint, with North Carolina positioned as a primary focus of that expansion. Projects are underway in regions such as:

These projects use Brightspeed’s XGS-PON (10-Gigabit-capable Symmetrical Passive Optical Network) architecture, ensuring current and future bandwidth needs are met without costly system overhauls.

Driving Local Job Creation and Business Expansion

Infrastructure investment doesn't stop with fiber lines; it multiplies across the economy. Every mile of fiber laid brings with it skilled labor demand—for engineers, contractors, network technicians, and logistics providers. Local suppliers benefit from multimillion-dollar construction budgets, while municipalities gain new tax revenue from revitalized commercial districts enabled by modern connectivity.

In 2023, Brightspeed-supported projects in North Carolina generated approximately 2,400 direct and indirect jobs across the state, according to estimates based on data from the Fiber Broadband Association. Economic modeling consistently links broadband expansion with GDP growth, particularly in rural regions: a study by the Purdue Center for Regional Development found that every $1 invested in broadband yields an average of $4 in economic returns over time.

Empowering Selected Regions With High-Speed Access

Some counties now at the forefront of this infrastructure rollout include:

By strategically prioritizing regions with the greatest need and potential, Brightspeed aligns infrastructure development directly with community uplift and long-term resilience. North Carolina’s digital transformation is no longer theoretical—it’s happening in real time, at street level, through every trench dug and every fiber strand connected.

Public-Private Partnerships Drive Transformational Change

Collaboration Accelerates Broadband Expansion

Deploying broadband at scale requires more than capital and infrastructure. It demands alignment among private enterprise, government agencies, and community stakeholders. Brightspeed works directly with county commissions, state broadband offices, and federal programs to build sustainable, high-speed internet solutions tailored to local needs. This collaborative approach cuts red tape, speeds up permitting, and streamlines network deployment.

At the state level, North Carolina’s Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Grant program has been pivotal. Administered by the North Carolina Department of Information Technology, it awards funding to internet service providers that commit to building out in unserved areas. In 2023 alone, the state awarded over $70 million in broadband expansion grants under this program, impacting more than 35,000 households and businesses in 27 counties.

Federal Programs Fuel Local Connectivity

Key federal initiatives bolster these efforts. USDA’s ReConnect Program, the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program channel billions into underserved and rural communities. RDOF, for example, allocated over $9.2 billion nationally; Brightspeed secured awards under Phase I, targeting thousands of locations across North Carolina.

Strategic Alliances Strengthen Local Impact

Brightspeed continues to build regional partnerships to maximize efficiency and long-term service viability. By aligning its investments with state priorities and leveraging institutional knowledge from local development teams, the company ensures infrastructure projects meet real community demand. These alliances make it possible to connect more homes, schools, and healthcare providers with minimal disruption and maximum return.

This joint effort model doesn’t just deliver fiber—it builds trust. It creates a framework that allows faster turnarounds for zoning, workforce alignment for construction, and direct input from residents on network needs. This is how public-private partnerships translate ambition into access.

Strengthening Communities Through Digital Inclusion

Closing the Digital Divide to Empower All Residents

Access to fast, reliable internet does more than connect devices—it unlocks opportunities. In North Carolina, Brightspeed continues to close the digital divide by expanding fiber broadband in areas long overlooked by conventional providers. This effort delivers tangible benefits. Access to digital tools enables students to excel in remote learning, allows job seekers to apply for positions online, and gives patients in remote areas the chance to consult with healthcare professionals through telemedicine.

According to the North Carolina Department of Information Technology, over 1.1 million residents lacked adequate broadband access as of 2021. Brightspeed's infrastructure rollout specifically targets these communities, ensuring that neither geography nor income limits digital opportunity.

Digital Literacy Equals Economic Mobility

Connectivity alone isn’t enough—a population must also know how to use the tools at their disposal. Digital literacy impacts employability, access to government services, and even financial health. For example, 38% of job seekers in the Southeastern U.S. report lacking the digital skills required for today’s economy, according to a 2022 report by the National Skills Coalition. Without intentional training, broadband expansion risks becoming a half-measure.

Brightspeed supports digital education initiatives designed to close these skill gaps. From community workshops to digital mentorships, these programs aim to increase proficiency in everything from basic internet navigation to online job applications and résumé building tools.

Partnership Programs Supporting Underserved Demographics

Programs like these reduce barriers that disproportionately affect low-income families, the elderly, and residents in remote areas. They don’t just deliver access—they foster inclusion, participation, and civic engagement.

The Role of Internet Service Providers in Regional Development

Driving Innovation and Smart City Progress

Internet service providers (ISPs) like Brightspeed serve as catalysts for technology-driven development. By deploying high-speed fiber networks, they lay the groundwork for smart infrastructure—connected transit systems, responsive traffic controls, real-time public service updates, and enhanced emergency communication protocols. In municipalities where reliable broadband has become standard, digital transformation follows. A 2023 report by the Smart Cities Council found that cities with gigabit internet access experienced a 28% faster adoption rate of smart tech solutions compared to those with slower or inconsistent access.

Brightspeed’s approach in North Carolina aligns directly with these dynamics. Cities and counties benefit from foundational broadband upgrades that enable everything from remote monitoring of utilities to open data platforms that drive public engagement.

Setting the Standard for Quality and Reliability

Every element of infrastructure must perform consistently; broadband is no exception. ISPs bear the responsibility to maintain network uptime, latency thresholds, and throughput speed. In fiber networks, performance often translates into measurable stats: latency under 5 milliseconds, symmetrical upload/download speeds, and uptime levels exceeding 99.99%. Brightspeed deploys redundant backhaul systems and real-time network monitoring to maintain these targets, ensuring that North Carolina residents and businesses don’t just get online—they stay online.

This reliability supports essential services including telehealth, digital education, government operations, and enterprise-level data exchange. When hospitals count on uninterrupted teleconsultations, or farms use real-time weather data for precision agriculture, a resilient network underpins that trust.

Customer Relationships that Anchor Connectivity

High-speed infrastructure means little without responsive, human-centered support. ISPs serve not only as technology providers, but also as daily partners to thousands of users navigating work, school, and life online. Every installation, every service call, every outage response directly impacts regional confidence in broadband systems.

In practice, these elements anchor long-term trust. They create a cycle where infrastructure investment yields confident adoption, which in turn justifies further digital expansion. In the context of North Carolina's development, ISPs like Brightspeed don’t just expand broadband—they create the conditions where innovation, quality, and customer relationships drive regional momentum forward.

Looking Ahead: A Connected Future for North Carolina

Brightspeed continues to deepen its long-term commitment to North Carolina, translating ambition into measurable infrastructure gains. The company’s expansion roadmap includes extensive fiber deployment across all regions—urban, suburban, and especially rural. With a multi-year plan that extends well beyond the initial buildouts, milestones are not abstract; they take physical shape in miles of laid fiber and doors opened to reliable, high-speed internet.

Plans That Stretch Beyond the Horizon

Brightspeed’s network expansion in North Carolina is not a one-and-done project. Instead, it unfolds through a phased build strategy that targets maximum community impact. By 2024, Brightspeed planned to deliver fiber broadband to over 300,000 locations across the state. But the commitment does not stop there. Additional phases will bring new construction that incorporates learnings from earlier rollouts, ensuring better efficiency and broader reach.

Tracking Progress: Fiber Miles and Future Connections

The scale of Brightspeed's effort can be quantified. As of mid-2024, the company has constructed thousands of fiber route miles, setting the stage for dense neighborhood-level coverage. Over 15,000 route miles of fiber are expected to be in place by 2026 in the Southeast region alone, with North Carolina receiving one of the largest shares of that buildout.

These advancements aren't theoretical—they’re being realized in neighborhoods, on main streets, and across rural roads that previously had limited or no broadband access.

North Carolina in a National Framework

As federal digital equity initiatives push all 50 states toward universal broadband, North Carolina is positioned to set a national benchmark. Brightspeed’s deployment aligns with the goals of the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, and it directly supports the North Carolina Department of Information Technology’s objective to bring high-speed internet to at least 98% of residents by 2027.

A fully connected North Carolina can serve as a prototype for state-level transformation. Education, healthcare, agriculture, and manufacturing will evolve in tandem with this digital backbone. Commerce will accelerate, rural communities will attract new opportunities, and the digital divide will shrink—not in theory, but in bandwidth and bytes.

Where could the next connection take your business, your school, your neighborhood? The infrastructure is being built—not in distant timeframes, but right now.

Empowering North Carolina One Community at a Time

Reliable, high-speed broadband doesn't only connect homes to the internet—it connects people to opportunity, towns to innovation, and local businesses to broader markets. Across North Carolina, Brightspeed’s multi-year commitment continues to unlock real progress:

This isn’t just a network buildout. It’s a foundation for a more inclusive, more resilient North Carolina.

How can residents, partners, and leaders stay part of this transformation? Engage. Ask questions. Explore updates on ongoing construction projects. Share stories of progress on the ground. Every shared insight helps improve and refine the expansion strategy.

Brightspeed’s message resonates across city blocks, rural roads, and main streets:

“Every connection strengthens a community.”

And in North Carolina, that strength is growing—one home, one business, and one community at a time.