Moving Forward
Broadband Work Will Continue to Evolve as Rural Community Needs Change
As the state enters a new phase of deployment, adoption, and long-term sustainability, the CBI’s future work reflects the evolving needs of county governments, regional COGs, and historically unconnected populations across North Carolina’s rural communities. This summary outlines the five core pillars of the CBI’s forward-looking mission.
Five Core Pillars
The CBI will continue its subgrantee accountability work on behalf of county governments and regional COGs. The CBI’s accountability role is critically important and supports local governments by:
- Scheduling and hosting regular briefings for local government officials where subgrantees provide progress updates on deployment milestones, construction timelines, and subscriber take rates.
- Reviewing subgrantee reports, construction progress maps, and FCC Form 477/BDC data to identify delays, coverage discrepancies, or performance shortfalls.
- Helping local governments respond to unique and urgent needs such as Outer Banks connectivity in Hyde County 3 and interruptions of service and destruction of infrastructure caused by Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina.
The CBI recognizes that millions of North Carolinians — particularly older adults, low-income households, rural residents, and other segments of the population remain unconnected even where broadband service is technically available. The CBI will continue to advocate for a comprehensive adoption framework across four interconnected pillars:
- Subscription Affordability: Advocate for broadband subscription subsidy programs that reduce the ongoing cost of internet service for historically unconnected populations.
- Device Access: Advocate for device subsidy programs to ensure that members of historically unconnected populations have access to a laptop or tablet internet-connected device.
- Digital Skills Training: Advocate for funding targeted, hands-on digital literacy and broadband use training programs.
- Digital Navigator Programs: Advocate for sustained funding of digital navigators — trusted community members trained to provide individualized, in-person guidance on subscription affordability, device access, and the practical relevance of broadband in daily life.
Hurricane Helene and other force majeure events have caused significant construction delays for broadband infrastructure projects funded through expiring federal programs. The CBI will advocate at both the state and federal level for:
- Extensions of the availability period for ARPA broadband funds.
- Extended and expedited federal permitting review timelines.
- Establishment of an extension of funds availability framework that includes consideration of disaster-related events for broadband grant programs.
Even after full BEAD deployment, unserved broadband serviceable locations (BSLs) will remain across North Carolina.
The CBI will advocate for the strategic application of BEAD non-deployment funds to address these remaining unserved BSLs.
The CBI will develop and maintain a neutral, non-commercial data and mapping service providing local governments, regional COGs, and state policymakers with real-time intelligence for:
- Remaining unserved BSLs
- Cost-to-serve analysis (construction cost estimates for remaining unserved BSLs)
- Technology suitability analysis to assess if last-mile technology being funded meets users' needs and meets the standard of broadband service defined by the FCC.
“We worked closely with the Rural Center’s Collaborative Broadband Initiative to map and identify locations in Western North Carolina that were not included in the national funding eligibility map to ensure they weren’t overlooked or left behind by state or federal funding programs.”
-Sara Nichols, Land of Sky Regional Council