Orange County to expand broadband with $10M in fed funds, partnership with NorthState

ORANGE COUNTY – High-speed fiber internet is coming to more than 28,000 Orange County homes and businesses, as well as approximately two-dozen county-owned offices or locations.

The service is being offered through a public-private partnership that taps into $10 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan. The provider, NorthState, plans to install nearly 1,000 miles of fiber optic cable across the county, and could bring service to some customers as soon as 2023, according to a statement.

The federal funds are allocated specifically to provide fiber service to nearly 10,000 addresses that fall in unserved or underserved areas, the company said in a statement. The additional investment will come from NorthState, and expand the project to an additional 18,000 or so homes and businesses.

As a part of the partnership, NorthState will also provide fiber internet service to approximately two dozen Orange County-owned “anchor institutions,” including fire stations, EMS and community centers.

NorthState now independent, following sale of parent company Segra to Cox Communications

‘Future-proof’

NorthState CEO Diego Anderson said in a statement that the project will help close the digital divide in Orange County. “This project will be life-changing,” said Anderson.

Anderson noted that the company’s fiber-optic network would be “future-proof, one that will fuel continuing growth and expanded economic opportunities.”

According to the company, the service will provide speeds of up to 2000 Mbps x 2000 Mbps. The company says that compared to “traditional cable” the service would provide uploads more than 150 times faster and downloads more than 12 times faster.

County residents will receive notice in the mail prior to construction beginning, the company said.

NorthState again became an independent company in October 2021, following the sale of its parent company to Cox Communications. That came less than two years after shareholders approved the sale of the company to Segra for $240 million. The company’s longtime CEO Royster Tucker III, stepped down following the acquisition.

The company now provides service to some 200,000 customers North Carolina and Virginia, where the company does business under the brand name Lumos.