North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper recently announced that nearly 85,000 households and more than 2,400 businesses in 69 counties in North Carolina are set to receive access to high-speed Internet because of more than $206 million of Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) grants.

The N.C. Department of Information Technology’s (NCDIT) Broadband Infrastructure Office, part of the Division of Broadband and Digital Equity, recently awarded GREAT grants to expand broadband infrastructure to Internet service providers in North Carolina, including the following in these counties in Western North Carolina:

• Ashe County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)

• Buncombe County: Frontier Communications of The Carolinas (Frontier)

• Burke County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)

• Caldwell County: Connect Holding II LLC (Connect Holding)

• Cherokee County: Blue Ridge Mountain EMC (Blue Ridge Mountain EMC)

• Graham County: Zitel LLC

• Haywood County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)

• Henderson County: Cebridge Acquisition, LP (Optimum)

• Jackson County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)

• Macon County: Frontier Communications of The Carolinas (Frontier)

• McDowell County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)

• Mitchell County: French Broad Electric Membership Corp.

• Rutherford County: Spectrum Southeast, LLC (Charter Communications dba Spectrum)

• Swain County: Zito West Holding, LLC (Zito Media)

• Yancey County: French Broad Electric Membership Corp

Source: North Carolina Office of the Governor