Putnam Down To Less Than 50 Homes Without Access

Putnam County is nearing completion of a broadband project that will provide broadband internet access to every house in Putnam County.

Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said the portion of the project that was covered under the grant received from the state has been completed. Porter said there are still areas spread throughout the county that do not have access to broadband internet just yet.

“We have about 24-28 homes I think left in the entire county that’s not covered,” Porter said. “They weren’t under this part of the grant but they are being taken care of. Also, they just got to run some more fiber for those.”

Porter said the state divided the county out into zones as part of the grant, and for whatever reason, certain portions of the county were not covered in the zones. Porter said providing broadband internet to the remaining areas would not cost the county anything, and he expects the overall project to be completed within the next two to three months.

“Our deal with Twin Lakes was even though there was some small sections that were not covered, they would make sure that they did cover those areas once this grant was finished,” Porter said. “So once they finished the grant a couple of weeks ago now they are going out and catching those little places where you can pickup those few little houses that were not covered in the grant.”

Porter said having broadband access will make the county more attractive for businesses as that is one of the many questions businesses have when considering a location. Porter said providing broadband access is going to be a huge thing for the county.

“You start looking at a state map and looking at the places inside each one of the counties that don’t have high-speed internet broadband coverage,” Porter said. “We are one of the few counties, take out the metropolitan cities, that have their whole county that is totally covered with high-speed internet.”

Porter said the broadband project has been going on for two years and is on pace to finish ahead of schedule.