ATLANTA, Ga. (41NBC/WMGT) — On Tuesday morning, Governor Kemp announced a new partnership to bring fiber broadband to 31,000 underserved businesses and homes in many central Georgia counties.
The partnership will affect a total of 9 central Georgia counties, including Crawford, South Houston, Macon, Peach and Taylor counties.
Flint Energies and Conexon Connect will join forces, with a plan to roll out 3,000 mile fiber to the home network in Central Georgia. The $90 million project is made possible through a combination of US bailout grant funds, rural digital opportunity funds from the FCC, and significant investments from Flint Energies and Connect.
Work on the project is expected to begin immediately and is expected to be completed in 2026.
State Senator Larry Walker had this to say, during the announcement on Tuesday:
“I’m grateful for Flint Energies’ investment in our communities and for bringing true broadband to parts of their service area that haven’t had access in too long,” and “Flint serves the center of Georgia for more than 85 years and with this announcement, the co-op has once again demonstrated its commitment to its members, bringing high-speed internet to hitherto neglected areas, rural households, farms, churches and businesses will be able to reap the benefits of connectivity with today’s online world.
This partnership between Flint Energies and Connect is made possible by Senate Bill 2, which allows electric membership cooperatives (like Flint Energies) to provide broadband services to help rural communities in need across the state. Flint Energies, along with 20 other electric member co-ops, is working to provide high-speed and broadband Internet service to reach a total of 282,000 Georgians in 89 counties.
