MOULTRIE, Ga. — A grant of more than $22.5 million may give every resident of Colquitt County access to broadband internet.

On Tuesday, Gov. Brian Kemp announced almost $408 million in grants to expand broadband access across the state. Colquitt County is set to receive $22,578,814. The State of Georgia is distributing the money as part of the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

While the Colquitt County government will be receiving the grant, it won’t be doing the actual work. Windstream, which proposed the grant request at a county commission meeting Aug. 16, will lay fiberoptic cable in phases throughout the county over the next three to four years.

Windstream is investing $12.5 million in the project as well, according to Ben Summerlin, the company’s operations manager in Moultrie. Once completed, it will provide broadband access to 7,448 homes that are currently underserved, Summerlin said.

“It’ll be more in the rural areas of Colquitt County,” he said.

A map provided by the Office of the Governor shows existing broadband around the city of Moultrie and a few other areas, but most of the county outside those areas will be served by the expansion announced this week.

“This is huge for Colquitt County,” Summerlin said. Among the beneficiaries will be homeschool students and students forced to stay home due to COVID-19, adults having to work from home, and businesses throughout the county.

Colquitt County Administrator Chas Cannon agreed.

“The commissioners took a risk,” he said, “and the reward is about $22 million of state money.”

Cannon said the expansion of internet access provides opportunities for economic development, local businesses and education.

“It touches all these different things,” he said.

When proposed in August, Cannon said the project would be at no expense for the county, but on Wednesday he acknowledged some expense related to managing the money — but it will be a tiny fraction of the benefit. 

Over the next few weeks, Cannon said, the committee that awarded the funds will present guidance on how the money will be distributed and how it can be spent. While waiting on that guidance, Summerlin said, Windstream will be solidifying plans on where to place the fiberoptic cable. He estimated the fiber placement would start in the second quarter of this year.

Both Cannon and Summerlin said the success of the project is a collaborative effort. Not only are the county government and Windstream involved, but also Colquitt EMC, which partnered with Windstream beginning in July 2020 to allow Windstream to run fiberoptic cable on its power poles.

Summerlin said the project received letters of support from many individuals and groups, including state Rep. Sam Watson of Moultrie and Colquitt County School Superintendent Ben Wiggins.

“We had multiple letters of support,” he said. “That’s what helped us secure the grant.”

Colquitt County is involved in applications for three grants from the American Rescue Plan Act. The broadband grant is the only one it’s received a response on.

Another application is for more than $50 million to enable the Moultrie-Colquitt County Development Authority to build a food processing facility that would be operated by a consortium of local agribusinessmen. Barbara Grogan, president of the development authority, said on Tuesday that the state expects to announce those grants in March. 

The third application is from the Colquitt County Board of Commissioners itself, asking roughly $1 million to replace a culvert on J.D. Herndon Road. The existing culvert isn’t large enough to handle the water flow during a rainstorm and the overflow frequently threatens residents’ houses in the area, Cannon said. It isn’t clear when the county will receive a response to this request.