Broadband Update for Macon County
April 2025

Jeff Lee, LitteT Broadband

January 2024 was a long time ago. Much has happened since my last post and though I have not made updates to this news blog for a while, I have been working to respond to folks asking questions about their specific areas. Here is an update to the broadband related happenings in Macon over the past year.

Frontier GREAT Grant

Many of you will recall that Frontier was awarded a grant to serve 2700 locations throughout the County by the State of North Carolina. Frontier completed all engineering and planning work and their contractor has been busy deploying fiber county-wide. If you have ventured down the GA Road, you may have seen their material and equipment staging area just south of Coweeta Church Rd. We continually receive reports of fiber construction activity as they complete what Frontier refers to as the “feeder” fiber - the fiber that connects communities with the central wire centers or hubs. As these “feeder” fiber sections are completed, Frontier will be working to connect homes and business. If Frontier connects your home or busiess, please let us know. Though the project was scheduled to be completed next Month, delays due to Helene recovery and other factors prompted Frontier to request an extension from the state. We are hopeful that much of this project will be completed by the end of 2025.

BalsamWest GREAT Grant

This grant award was received by BalsamWest for extension of fiber service to 200+ locations in the Otto, Scaly Mountain, and unincorporated Highlands areas. BalsamWest has completed all planning and engineering and has all materials staged, but the deployment has been delayed by permitting with Haywood EMC and the USFS. Some of permitting delays also stem from Helene recovery and staffing reductions at USFS are now contributing to delays nation-wide. Like Frontier, BalsamWest has requested an extension from the state and we are hopeful that construction work will begin soon.

Frontier CAB Grant

Some of you may have seen the news back in March of this year that Frontier was awarded and additional grant through the North Carolina CAB grant program. This new grant will allow Frontier fiber service extension to 411 locations in the Sanderstown area of Macon County. The CAB grant will be synergistic with fiber deployment already underway nearby from the earlier GREAT grant. This new project is expected to complete by the end of 2026.

Charter RDOF Subsidy

Charter Communications (doing business as Time Warner Cable of North Carolina) won the FCC RDOF auction for all eligible census blocks in Macon County. They began deploying fiber in other parts of the state in 2022, and some of you may have noticed signs here and there in the area that say "Charter Spectrum Coming Soon". Though they have been working in Haywood and Jackson counties, we have yet to see any activity by Charter or their contractors in Macon. Assuming plans do not change Charter has until 2028 to complete the project under the current FCC rules, though it is unclear how rising costs and uncertainty in the economy and at the FCC will affect their project in Macon. If you see any fiber construction by Charter in your area, please let us know.

Nantahala Lake Public WiFi

The project to extend fiber to 5 County facilities and offer public WiFi in the Nantahala Lake community was completed in mid 2024. Public WiFi is now available at the following locations:

  • Nantahala Fontana Library Branch and Community Center
  • Nantahala Volunteer Fire & Rescue main station
  • Nantahala Volunteer Fire & Rescue substation (near Nantahala School)
  • Nantahala EMS
  • Nantahala Recreation Center

Cowee School Public WiFi

This is a new project that is just getting started. As part of the Frontier GREAT grant program, Cowee School will be connected to fiber within the next few months. We are currently working with Cowee School Arts & Heritage organization to upgrade the network infrastructure within the school so that public WiFi service can be offered to the community when the fiber arrives.