LaGrange County REMC receives $1.63 million from RDOF to expand broadband project
LAGRANGE, IN — LaGrange County REMC received a $1.63
million grant from the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Rural Digital
Opportunity Fund (RDOF)
to expand the current fiber broadband project to include an
additional 1,204 unserved homes and businesses in LaGrange County.
RDOF is an FCC
initiative to help fund broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas
in rural
America. The FCC’s RDOF program will direct up to $9.23 billion over 10
years to finance up to gigabit-speed broadband networks in those areas.
The RDOF grant comes after LaGrange
County REMC received
$5 million in financial support
from the Major Moves Fund from LaGrange County.
These funds will be combined to launch LaGrange County REMC’s broadband project. In total, LaGrange County REMC will
invest about $25 million in the community
to improve the region’s technology infrastructure. The original project would
have reached fiber broadband to 5,435 households, but with the additional RDOF funding, the project was expanded to include
6,639 households. These
additional households are non-electric members.
“We are excited
to be the vehicle that brings high-speed broadband service to LaGrange County,”
says Mark Leu, chief executive officer at LaGrange
County REMC. “We are happy to play a part in providing our members with
this life-changing technology.”
Construction on the project began this summer and
LaGrange County residents will begin experiencing the fastest, most reliable
internet technology available anywhere with connections starting in 2022 and continuing through 2023.
The fiber project for LaGrange County will offer speeds up to a gigabit per second.
Fiber optic
broadband is a future-proof technology that increases property values and
improves the quality of life. Fiber
broadband means better access to health care through telemedicine, more educational opportunities through distance
learning, increased opportunities for economic development, and of course
a better video streaming and gaming experience. The potential is unlimited.
Bill Bradley,
president and chief executive officer
of the LaGrange County Economic
Development Corporation,
says the fiber optic broadband network will give LaGrange County businesses a competitive edge.
“This is the kind of project
that is transformational for this region,”
Bradley says. “It will bring
us into the 21st century
with access to quality high-speed internet for the citizens of LaGrange County.”
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LaGrange County REMC distributes electricity to their
members at over 7,000 locations through a network of more than 600 miles
of power lines.
With 85 years of experience serving the region
with electric service, the cooperative is now expanding its service to
provide fiber optic broadband network to provide high-speed internet service.
Members can learn
more about fiber
broadband and sign up for this life-changing service at broadband.lagrangeremc.com.