The 260-mile high-speed Internet network Vice President Joe Biden highlighted Thursday in North Georgia will connect downtown Atlanta to North Carolina, boost the region’s economy and create hundreds -- even thousands -- of jobs during its construction, say the people behind the project.
Biden appeared with Gov. Sonny Perdue in Dawsonville to announce a $33 million federal stimulus grant for the network. The money is coming from a federal program that seeks to spread broadband technology.
Officials from the North Georgia Network Cooperative say their new fiber-optic system will tie into existing networks in Atlanta and North Carolina and make high-speed Internet access available in Dawson, Forsyth, Habersham, Lumpkin, Rabun, Towns, Union and White counties.
As envisioned, the network will reach 42,000 households and 9,209 businesses and connect 245 community institutions, including public schools, universities, hospitals, and government facilities. Businesses and schools in North Georgia have long complained about the lack of high-speed Internet services, according to the cooperative. The cooperative, meanwhile, is projecting the work will create 837 “direct” jobs and almost 21,000 “indirect” jobs during the construction.
The project has been in the works for three years, said Bruce Abraham, a North Georgia Network Cooperative board member and executive director of the Lumpkin County Development Authority.
“We are just astounded,” Abraham said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal for us.”
The network will be built and owned by the North Georgia Network Cooperative, which is partly owned by Habersham Electric Membership Corp. and Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Membership Corp. The cooperative plans to charge Internet providers for access to the network so they can offer services over the lines, Abraham said.
The project carries a total price tag of $41 million. North Georgia communities, some electric membership cooperatives and the OneGeorgia Authority will be covering some of the cost, Abraham said.
“What we see in North Georgia is the opportunity again to be competitive in the global economy,” said Nancy Cobb, executive director of the OneGeorgia Authority, which promotes economic development in rural areas. Perdue is the authority's chairman.
“You are no longer limited by ... a geographical area," Cobb said. "Fiber removes that isolation. It provides you with opportunity to be competitive with the rest of the world.”
The North Georgia Network will represent the leading edge in broadband technology, said Bailey White, a partner with Alpharetta-based Civitium and a consultant who helped craft the project’s plan.
“It is the most advanced way to get Internet service to people,” White said. “It exceeds by far the capacity of copper, cable or wireless. It is absolutely the fastest. And it is upgradable, so it could continue to grow over time.”
In all, Biden on Thursday announced today $182 million in funding for 18 broadband projects benefiting 17 states. He made his announcement at Impulse MFG, a sheet-metal fabricator that hopes to benefit from the new technology.
“Make no mistake, this is an historic investment,” Biden said.
The funds Biden announced are coming from the $787 billion stimulus program. President Barack Obama signed the legislation for the program in February. Republican legislators who voted against it say the program amounts to deficit spending.
"Joe Biden wants us to believe he's Santa Claus today, but for the taxpayers who will be paying for the stimulus for decades to come, he's really going to be the Grinch who stole your paycheck,” Rep. Tom Price, a Roswell Republican and frequent critic of the stimulus program, said in a prepared statement.
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