Major new investments aimed at expanding high-speed internet service across Alabama are poised to give many rural communities an important tool to better compete for job-creating projects and fuel economic growth.,

The latest evidence: Selma, Demopolis and 15 other cities in Alabama’s Black Belt region will soon be able to connect to a new lightning-fast, fiber-optic network being rolled out by Meridiam, an infrastructure investment firm.

The firm announced this month it will develop, build and manage the network that will eventually provide fiber broadband to 53,000 households and businesses across more than 300 miles in central Alabama. Private investment in the project will total $230 million.

“High-speed reliable broadband is no longer nice to have,” Selma Mayor James Perkins said. “Today, it’s as important as gas, water and electricity. In our increasingly digital society, cities without access to fiber broadband risk falling behind.

“It’s critical that the city of Selma makes fiber broadband accessible citywide by building utility-like infrastructure that serves our residents’ needs today and for generations to come,” he said.

Meridiam said the broadband network, developed with affiliate Yellowhammer Networks, will extend beyond Dallas County to Greene, Hale, Marengo, Perry, Sumter and Wilcox counties in Alabama’s rural Black Belt.

Infrastructure investment firm Meridiam and partner Yellowhammer Networks kick off a $230 million project to bring high-speed internet to Selma and other Alabama Black Belt cities. (Meridiam)

Gaining momentum

The project follows a pair of announcements from Gov. Kay Ivey in February that grants totaling more than $336 million had been awarded to internet service providers to expand broadband availability to homes, businesses and public institutions in underserved areas of the state.

“Rural Alabama, like so many other places in the state, is in need of increased access to high-speed internet, and today we are taking a significant stride in our journey toward full broadband access,” Ivey said at a Feb. 5 announcement.

Rural Alabama counties benefiting from the grants include Washington, Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, Monroe, Henry, Barbour, Geneva, Pickens, Lowndes and Dale.

“Our fiber-optic network will help bring those Alabama communities without reliable internet into a new era,” said Tom Stackhouse, chairman of the Alabama Fiber Network, a coalition of eight electric co-ops and key partners that received nearly $129 million in a February grant for projects, mostly in rural areas. Alabama Power is a partner in the Alabama Fiber Network.

The funding for these broadband grants was made available through the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) as part of Ivey’s “Be Linked Alabama” initiative.

That’s on top of an additional $276 million in ARPA funding for broadband expansion announced in early 2021.

Gov. Kay Ivey in February announced that grants totaling more than $336 million had been awarded to internet service providers to expand broadband availability to homes, businesses and public institutions in underserved areas of the state. (Hal Yeager / Governor’s Office)

Enhancing economic growth

Brenda Tuck, Rural Development manager at the Alabama Department of Commerce, said the broadband expansion projects are critical because high-speed internet service is essential for sustained economic growth for all communities.

“Alabama’s rural communities are ripe for growth, but they need the resources to compete for — and land — those high-impact growth projects that make a real difference for their citizens,” Tuck said.

“In the digital age, one of those resources is dependable, round-the-clock access to high-speed internet,” she said.

Wayne Vardaman, director of the Selma & Dallas County Economic Development Authority, said he’s excited about the Meridiam broadband project.

“We worked very closely with the company to help the project get through the tax abatement process with help from the Alabama Department of Revenue,” Vardaman said. “We at the Selma and Dallas County EDA believe this project will be valuable to the community by giving us access to reliable, high-speed broadband services necessary to our work and mission.”

Meridiam said its fiber network is being developed and deployed at no cost to local governments or their taxpayers.

Yellowhammer Networks, a fiber-to-the-premises network developer owned and financed by Meridiam, has committed to fund 100% of the project, totaling $230 million across the region. Yellowhammer Networks will also provide strategic, technical and operational support to ensure the project’s success.

“Meridiam is dedicated to filling critical fiber infrastructure gaps and helping eliminate the divide that excludes millions of people from our digital society and compromises economic growth for all,” said Nicolas Rubio, Meridiam’s CEO for the Americas.

“Yellowhammer Networks is determined to make high-speed fiber broadband accessible to residents throughout Selma and the region regardless of their income levels,” he said.

Yellowhammer Networks received two grants totaling $7.6 million. The grants were among those announced by Ivey last month.

This story originally appeared on the Alabama Department of Commerce’s Made in Alabama website.