COLUMBIA, SC — The South Carolina Broadband Office (SCBBO) is pleased to announce that broadband deployment is continuing at a rapid pace and, while construction is still underway statewide, only 28,724 Broadband Serviceable Locations (BSLs) remain unserved or underserved and lack an investment commitment. Of the remaining BSLs, 21,466 are residential, 5,469 are business, and 1,789 are Community Anchor Institutions. These totals represent 1.1% and 2.9% of the statewide residential and business BSLs, respectively. The next round of federal broadband funding — Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD), administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) — will be used to provide access for these locations and permanently solve the digital divide. South Carolina has been allocated $546.5 million in additional BEAD funding.
"South Carolina is leading the charge in broadband expansion, bringing the internet to hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses, and communities," said Governor Henry McMaster. "Through strategic investments and an innovative approach, we have made remarkable progress in just a few short years – and we will work to continue this momentum to ensure South Carolinians have the connectivity needed to thrive in today's world."
Before the BEAD Main Application phase commences, the SCBBO will continue to redeploy small amounts of the state’s original $400 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds from under-budget projects to reduce the remaining BSLs that will require BEAD funding. Using this strategy allows remaining BSLs to be connected more rapidly. This strategy has been enabled by the SCBBO’s agile methodology, a building-blocks approach — i.e., investing ARPA funds in multiple tranches, with relatively short construction projects (less than two years), to a wide variety of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) working in parallel. As ISPs complete ARPA projects and come in under budget, the SCBBO follows NTIA-approved protocol and removes BSLs from BEAD eligibility.
“The agile methodology is central to the success of today’s software industry, and it turns out that it works phenomenally well for broadband deployment, too,” said Jim Stritzinger, Director of the SCBBO. “With an extraordinary team, in less than two years, we completed four ARPA investment rounds and awarded 128 separate grants to 19 different ISPs. From SCBBO inception (July 2021), combined federal, state, and private investments have rapidly reduced the number of unserved and underserved BSLs from over 300,000 to 28,724 where we stand today. Proudly, nearly all of these newly constructed locations now have access to fiber.”
In the near future, the BEAD Main Application phase will open, and the SCBBO will award projects to connect the remaining unserved and underserved BSLs. These Pre-Qualified Applicants are now eligible to participate in the South Carolina BEAD program.
"Every family in South Carolina deserves access to affordable, high-speed internet," said Congressman James E. Clyburn. "Today's announcement of the progress of broadband deployment across the state shows how South Carolina is carving a path as a national leader in closing the rural-urban divide. BEAD is the final piece of the puzzle. This investment is essential for the competitiveness of the entire state and to make sure no rural community is left behind as the wheels of progress move forward."
More information about the broadband grant programs administered by the SCBBO can be found at ors.sc.gov/broadband.
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The SCBBO is housed within the state’s Office of Regulatory Staff. The SCBBO serves as the central broadband planning body to coordinate with federal, state, regional, local, and private entities, to the extent practicable, to engage in the continued deployment of broadband in the state.