MOULTRIE — Fiber internet provider Kinetic plans to make 70% of Colquitt County — more than 17,000 homes and businesses — “fiber ready” next year in a $32.5 million public-private partnership, the company said.

Some 40% of the county is already eligible for Kinetic’s fiber broadband, which provides internet speeds of up to eight gigabits per second. That covers more than 9,700 homes and businesses, including in Moultrie.

Kinetic plans to add nearly 7,400 more customers with the new construction.

“We’re thrilled the vast majority of Colquitt County will be able to experience the extraordinary advantages of fiber connectivity,” Kinetic Georgia operations President Michael Foor said in making the announcement.

He also thanked electric cooperative Colquitt Electric Membership Corp. for working jointly with Kinetic to expand Kinetic’s fiber optic broadband network to rural customers.

“Colquitt EMC has been an instrumental part in the delivery of fiber in its service area,” Foor said. “We are grateful for its willingness to support these efforts.”

He added, “This joint achievement is a testament to our unwavering commitment to providing high-speed, reliable and future-proof fiber broadband to homes and businesses in this beautiful county. We believe this transformation will open up new opportunities, including enhancing people’s qualities of life and driving economic growth.”

The communities benefiting from the new construction are Moultrie, Berlin, Doerun, Funston and Norman Park.

Parts of Moultrie, Berlin and Doerun already have the high-speed fiber service available to eligible homes and businesses, Kinetic said in a press release.

The company plans to lay more than 440 miles of optical fiber cable as it works its way through all the communities to bring high-speed internet to customers. It has already laid more than 180 miles of fiber cable, according to the press release.

The company will use about $21.4 million in state grant money from the federal government. The money comes from the U.S. Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program, part of the federal American Rescue Plan COVID-19 stimulus package.

Kinetic will invest $11.1 million and cover any cost overruns.

Kinetic’s ultrafast fiber-optic broadband lets users download and upload, equally in both directions, at up to eight gigabits per second, or 8,000 megabits per second, providing what is widely known as “next-generation access” because of its significant speed and quality upgrade, the press release said.

The median download speed in Georgia is about 187 megabits a second, and the median upload speed is about 26 megabits a second, Ookla’s Speedtest indicates. Ookla is an independent web testing and network diagnostics company that compares internet data speeds across the country.

Customers may check their own online speeds through Ookla at speedtest.windstream.net.

Households and businesses may call Kinetic at 800-255-8358 toll free to find out if they are, or will be, eligible for a fiber speed upgrade.

They may also preregister with Kinetic for fiber broadband at windstream.com/kinetic-fiber.

Kinetic’s Colquitt County fiber project is part of a $2 billion multiyear capital investment strategy by Kinetic to dramatically expand gigabit fiber service across the company’s 18-state footprint.

To learn more, visit GoKinetic.com.