High Speed Internet Buildout Well Underway For South Western Kentucky

In a comprehensive update with local and regional leaders during Monday afternoon’s Pennyrile Area Development District digital conclave, Kentucky Office of Broadband Development Executive Director Meghan Sandfoss confirmed the state’s fiber optic internet buildout continues to go as planned — and better than honestly expected.
Her office was established within the efforts of the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly, and with it came a list of priorities for the Commonwealth:
— Bring options to “no service” locations
— Turn attention to unserved and underserved areas, particularly those of lower population density
— Attack regions where public funds were either limited or altogether unavailable
— And construct networks capable of preferred 1 GB symmetrical speeds as the ceiling, and 100 MB symmetrical speeds as the floor
For 2023, and beyond, business, health, education and pleasure all require reliable connection to the Internet.
Behind the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, signed into law by U.S. President Joe Biden, Sandfoss noted that Kentucky received $1.1 billion to rebuild its networks. The bill asked for more than $42 billion, and states were guaranteed at least $100 million for internet infrastructure improvements.
The Commonwealth, she added, needed that much help, and that the point has been to finish service skeletons that would otherwise be ignored by subsidy or “unlikely to ever happen.”

click to download audioIt’s the 15th largest allocation in the country.
The first round of financial tranches have already been distributed, with several construction projects either underway or completed. She said most, if not all, contracts and subcontracts are under the licensed Pennyrile Rural Electric Cooperative.
For Caldwell County, this was nearly $1.4 million with a match, serving 339 locations.
For Lyon County, this was nearly $1 million with a match, serving 333 locations.
Round two, she said, will be even more effective — branching out deeper into rural communities.
For Caldwell County, this means another $330,000 and a match for 32 more locations served.
For Lyon County, this means another $400,000 and a match for 70 more locations served.
And for Hopkins County, it’s going to be a $4.9 million payout with a $5.5 million match to serve 817 locations.
Asked if fiber optic internet was the only solution for rural Kentuckians, Sandfoss said other options can be sought if that kind of infrastructure is limiting or expensive.