About 230 Aiken County residents could receive broadband internet service in the coming months.
Spectrum is expanding its broadband network to Aiken County communities including Aiken, New Ellenton, Spiderweb, Jackson, Eureka, Surry, Windsor, Graniteville and Kitchings Mill.
The Federal Communications Commission defines broadband Internet as Internet with a download speed of 25 megabytes per second or more and an upload speed of 5 megabytes per second.
Spectrum’s internet service is much faster. The company offers speeds up to 1 gigabyte/second, with a starting speed of 300 megabytes/second. The company also began evolving its network to deliver gigabit upstream speeds and multi-gigabit download speeds across its 41-state service area.
Public Relations Director Patrick Paterno said Wednesday that Spectrum plans to serve about 3,200 customers in Aiken County by the end of the year.
Alex Gonzalez, Spectrum’s vice president for the South Carolina market, said Wednesday that the company’s Aiken County expansion was made possible by the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.
The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund is a federal initiative to provide broadband internet connectivity to rural areas. Congressman Jim Clyburn (D.C.) has long advocated for connecting rural areas to broadband service.
“After the pandemic, there was a huge need for broadband internet,” Gonzalez said. “There were a lot of places that didn’t have the resources to provide high-speed internet to a lot of schools and a lot of people working from home.”
Gonzalez added that Spectrum is getting a lot of cooperation from local government officials who want to provide high-speed internet to as many people as possible.
“We’re all pulling together because we all want this for the public,” Gonzalez said.
