Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives heard testimony about some of the great things happening in North Carolina to bring high-speed broadband to rural areas of Western North Carolina. Leonard Winchester, chair of the WNC Education Network (WNC EdNet), Dr. Cecil Groves of Southwestern Community College, and Earl Gohl, Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) delivered testimony to the House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management.
They appeared before the House to speak about the importance of the Appalachian Regional Commission’s involvement in regional projects. North Carolina has used over $500,000 in ARC funding to support the build out of the WNC EdNET. The project connects the six far western counties (Jackson, Swain, Graham, Cherokee, Clay and Macon) to a fiber ring.
The fiber ring connects every public building including schools to the network. There are over 70 sites connected to fiber and project partners include school systems in each county, charter schools, Southwestern Community College, Tri-County Community College, Western Carolina University and the Cherokee Nation’s Tribal schools.