Steaming from collaboration among community development professionals, the North Georgia Network Cooperative (NGN) is using BTOP funds to enable a new technology-based economy in the North Georgia foothills.

By March 2011, NGN began construction on the 260-mile core of its planned 800-mile fiber optic network. As of May, 24 workers have installed more than 80 miles of fiber optic cable along the core network, deploying eight to 10 miles per week on average in the rural Georgia counties of Rabun, Towns, Union and White.

This core network is slated for completion by late fall 2011 and will deliver broadband speeds as fast as in most major metropolitan areas in the United States. NGN also will establish point-of-presence locations at county school systems, have a presence at a major university in the region, and improve broadband Internet speeds to offer 1 Gbps connections to most areas. In addition, several hundred miles of lateral lines will be built out from the core, making broadband more readily available to more than 42,000 households, 9,200 businesses, and 350 community anchor institutions.

The project also has a page on Twitter with the latest news.

Last Updated October 18, 2011.