Kinetic has secured preliminary approval for roughly $156.6 million in federal BEAD grants to extend multi-gigabit fiber broadband to nearly 52,000 rural homes and businesses across Georgia and three other states.
Provisionally, the funds were awarded by Georgia, Arkansas, New Mexico, and North Carolina, with Georgia receiving the largest share of about $147.3 million to expand fiber access within the state. Arkansas, New Mexico, and North Carolina will receive $5 million, $2 million, and $2.3 million, respectively.
Note: The grants remain subject to final ratification by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), according to Kinetic in a Wednesday release.
“We are especially appreciative of the opportunity to expand our partnership with the State of Georgia,” said Jeff Small, Kinetic’s EVP and CNO. “The BEAD award continues our robust participation in Georgia’s public-private partnership programs, where BEAD and other efforts are helping us build fiber to over 170,000 homes and businesses.”
Kinetic notes its fiber network currently passes more than 1.7 million homes and is connected to an additional 2.1 million locations via neighborhood fiber nodes, part of a broader plan to reach 3.5 million homes passed with fiber by 2029.
Edited by Brad Randall for Broadband Communities, the report previews a BEAD-driven expansion that aims to boost rural broadband access and support state-level efforts to improve digital inclusion.
