COVINGTON, Ga. — Parts of east Newton County soon could have broadband service available after county commissioners approved using COVID relief funds to prepare for it.
The Board of Commissioners voted to use $500,000 of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for Royston-based Paladin Wireless to install the infrastructure needed to offer broadband service in parts of east, southeast and south Newton.
County Attorney Patrick Jaugstetter said the federal government allows local governments to use COVID relief funds provided by Congress in ARPA to increase broadband service in their areas.
Parents of many Newton County students often complained about lack of broadband service needed to comply with Newton County schools' virtual learning requirements during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
The areas Paladin will serve "have been designated by the state as underserved for broadband and internet service," Jaugstetter said.
"The agreement (with Paladin) would require them to utilize these funds for a limited purpose and put the network into operation," he said.
Jaugstetter said a final agreement still must be approved by the Board.
He recommended commissioners require its ARPA funding to be distributed to Paladin as each part of the installation work begins.
Paladin leases internet frequencies the Federal Communications Commission designated for Newton County. The lease is for 30 years at $7.50 per month per subscriber, he said.
However, Paladin is not yet offering internet service. Jaugstetter said he recommended commissioners require Paladin to make the service available by a specific date to gain the funding.
Jaugstetter said he had not discussed with Paladin officials any details about how soon the company anticipated having its service available in Newton County.
"I will bring back to you, before a final agreement is signed, a timeline for when that service will be made available to the public," he said.
"I don't want you entering an agreement making funds available and not having any corresponding promise when that will be flipped on for people to start using it."
Other locations within Newton County also are unserved. Jaugstetter said he also will ask Paladin officials for a list of future locations in the county they planned to serve.
"To me, this is like road improvements. You can only do so many at once," Jaugstetter said.
He said the remaining $500,000 of ARPA money the county earmarked for broadband may not cover all the remaining areas that need service but commissioners could designate specific areas that it will fund internet infrastructure in the future.
District 1 Commissioner Stan Edwards, a Mansfield resident who represents most areas considered underserved, said Paladin has proposed "a phased approach."
"This is only the first phase," Edwards said.
He said the second phase will include parts of District 2 in west Newton and likely will reach parts of Districts 4 and 5.
However, he said the company will not need additional county ARPA money to expand its service elsewhere in Newton County after using the $500,000 it receives from the county.
"The phased approach takes the service into the whole county," he said. "Just the first phase is to the unserved citizens of the county who don't have internet now — or vastly underserved."
State officials used information from internet providers to create a map showing census blocks statewide where more than 80% of locations had broadband service available in 2021.
Census blocks without 80% of locations meeting the “broadband” definition were designated as “unserved" on a map created by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
"Broadband" was defined as internet service offering speeds of 25 megabits per second (mbps) download and 3 mbps upload, according to information from the department.
Newton County has more than 3,300 locations not served by broadband — 7% of almost 49,000 locations available for the service, according to the department.
On the statewide map, Newton County's "unserved" areas were primarily in a band stretching from eastern Newton to the county's southern tip.
The state map showed some areas in and around Mansfield and Newborn were served but service was not uniform across both cities, according to the state map.
Large areas within northeastern Newton south of Social Circle also were designated as "unserved."
After the meeting, Edwards wrote on his Facebook page, ”This is what we have been waiting on for some time now.”
”Things should move pretty quick now that this funding has been approved,” he said.
