Skylar Celeste Boone Houston County and 10 other entities in Alabama can expect to get an increase of speed in their broadband services, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced on Monday. The Alabama Fiber Network awarded $128.8 million in grant money under the Alabama Anchor Institution Middle Mile Grant Program.
Five middle-mile projects totaling 1,776 miles and connecting 438 anchor institutions will be installed in Bibb, Butler, Chilton, Choctaw, Conecuh, Dale, Dallas, Geneva, Greene, Hale, Henry, Houston, Jefferson, Lowndes, Marengo, Monroe, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, Tuscaloosa and Wilcox counties. “The first segments of our network should start to come online in the Summer of 2024,” said Chris Skelton, the chief technical officer at the AFN. “We have a plan to get all network segments on early in 2026, which would cover the entire state.” People are also reading… AFN will use the grant money to help build up the middle-mile infrastructure, which will in turn help the last mile networks, Skelton said. This will provide internet access to the farthest rural communitie