When most people talk about infrastructure they think of roads, bridges, water, sewer and street lights.
Harold Sparrow, though, thinks about ones and zeros traveling at the speed of light through 320 miles of underground fiber optic cables in Columbia County.
Sparrow is the broadband manager for the Columbia County Community Broadband Utility, or C3BU. The fiber network provides the Internet information backbone for the county government, county sheriff’s department, schools and medical facilities. It also ensures that the 18 county parks have Wifi Internet that is free to access.
Internet service providers also tie into the network to provide the last mile of connection to private homes and businesses.
That connectivity has been a key driver in attracting businesses, including the Amazon warehouse at the White Oaks Business Park at exit 183 on Interstate 20, said Robbie Bennett, executive director of the Development Authority of Columbia County.
“It’s critical for a business knowing their long term goals are going to be met,” Bennett said.
The Internet service providers pay for the access to the county’s fiber network and though C3BU is owned by the county, it’s budget is mostly funded through rate payers and federal government grants for new infrastructure, Sparrow said.
Most of the network is concentrated in the more densely populated cities within the county, such as Evans, Martinez and to some extent Grovetown.
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The county formed C3BU in 2010 and part of Sparrow’s job is to target federal grants that can expand the network.
“The federal government paid for most of it,” Sparrow said.
Since 2012, Columbia County received $13.5 million from the federal government to expand fiber optic coverage.
Sparrow said C3BU’s next move is to apply for grants included in the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). He believes some of the grants will fund expansion into more rural parts of western Columbia County.
Joshua B. Good is a staff reporter covering Columbia County and military/veterans’ issues for The Augusta Press. Reach him at joshua@theaugustapress.com
