Part I: Georgia’s Digital Divide

Nov 24, 2021
Key Points
  • Hundreds of thousands of families and businesses across the state lack reliable modern-day internet to tackle their jobs and attend school.
  • Around $700 million could help bridge the digital divide between Georgia’s urban and rural counties.
  • Costs of building broadband – at several thousand dollars per location – highlights the need for local governments to keep providers from duplicating service or cherry-picking easier-to-reach areas.
More than half of Georgia counties lack high-speed internet for 20% or more of their homes and businesses, state data shows. Nearly all of them are in rural areas. A few small counties like Baker and Glascock – with nearly 4,000 homes and businesses total – have no broadband access at all. Officials in the ...