RIAA support will propel Eastern NC fiber optic program forward

Fiber Optics Weekly Update, August 30, 2002

Thanks to grant funding announced, a bold initiative to bring competitively priced broadband telecommunications and Internet access to Eastern North Carolina will continue to move forward. Commission members of the state's Rural Internet Access Authority (RIAA) approved a $2.9 million grant for a fiber optic cable backbone that will stretch from Moyock to Wilmington. The fiber network, being built along the same route as the natural gas pipeline already under construction, holds the potential for impacting 39 counties astride or east of Interstate 95.

The Albemarle-Pamlico Economic Development Corporation (APEC) will work to create a new organization to build and operate the fiber network to ensure all area citizens have access to the telemedicine, distance learning, e-commerce and online government services it will provide.

Several other organizations and public entities have provided funding for the project. Those partners include EMC Fiber LLC, representing a core group of North Carolina's electric cooperatives; the N.C. Research Education Network, representing the University of North Carolina system; the University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina; and the Golden Leaf Foundation. Construction of the fiber project began in the fall of 2001 and is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2004.