Putnam Preparing For Broadband Expansions

Putnam County wants to send out requests for proposals next month preparing for future broadband projects from ARP funding.

Mayor Randy Porter said the county wants to correlate with the state, which will soon be accepting grant applications from providers.

“We’re very hopeful that once this project is done, 100 percent of Putnam County will have access to at least one provider that provides at least 100 megabit internet connectivity,” Porter said. “Which is considered by the feds to be high-speed internet”

Porter said depending on who the state rewards, the county will then follow up with its RFP. Porter said the goal is to create a seamless transition for when providers do receive the grant funding. Then, the internet expansion can begin quickly.

Porter said that he wants to get things done quickly and get them done right. He said that he’s excited about all the projects.

“I feel like everyone in Putnam County should have access to water, electricity, telephone, and good internet service,” Porter said. “Right now there are citizens across the county that don’t have access to water and there’s a lot of folks that don’t have access to good internet. So we’re hoping with this money it’s going to be a huge deal for Putnam County and we’re going to make sure that everybody does have access to those.”