Vanderburgh County broadband project now complete
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About 20,000 people now have access to broadband internet in Vanderburgh County after a $39 million AT&T Fiber project was completed this month.
The public-private initiative is part of a larger push to work with digitally-unconnected areas and close their digital divide. Vanderburgh County used $9.9 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds, while AT&T contributed $29.7 million. This is the first public-private broadband project AT&T has completed since federal funds were made available to states in 2020.
“This was a large public-private project for our county, so I’m pleased that it was completed on time and on budget,” Vanderburgh County Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave said in a news release. “It was just 2 years ago that we signed our contract with AT&T. Fast forward to today, and we’re celebrating all of the positive things that high-speed broadband is bringing to our community.”
AT&T also announced it will contribute $50,000 to the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. so it can provide digital literacy training and give out 400 free refurbished laptops to students and families.
“Evansville and Vanderburgh County are my home, so I can tell you first-hand how much this new connectivity means to the Hoosiers who live and work here,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the release. “With fiber broadband like this now covering the community, our residents, business owners and farmers are able to get things done smarter and faster, and that equates to a big boost to our quality of life.”
AT&T has several other broadband projects in the state, including Lawrence County, the city of Boonville, the city of Martinsville and Delaware County.