All four of the grant’s impacted counties are in the bottom 25 counties in Kentucky for broadband availability. Breathitt and Lee counties are the two lowest served counties in the state, both with below 50 percent availability of broadband to the home. What’s more, nearly 7,000 homes in Breathitt, Estill, Lee and Powell counties do not have high-speed Internet available at home.
“Coal to Broadband” will help ensure that these counties move toward more accessible and widespread broadband connections. The program will use multi-county coal severance dollars along with Appalachian Regional Commission funds for an economic development project to bring broadband access to the four county Eastern Kentucky region.
As the project progresses you will be able to view the areas within the four counties that are served as service becomes available. For an overview of the current unserved areas, open up the unserved areas map below.