Brightspeed has continued to accelerate its broadband infrastructure deployment across underserved and unserved communities. With a growing footprint that spans 20 states, the company’s latest achievement stands out: more than 10,000 households in North Carolina’s Piedmont Region now enjoy access to fast, reliable internet. This development reflects a decisive step in Brightspeed’s multi-year plan to bring fiber-powered connectivity to over three million homes and businesses, including more than one million in North Carolina alone.
High-speed internet access no longer serves as a convenience—it drives education, economic growth, telehealth, and job creation. By targeting localities historically overlooked by legacy providers, Brightspeed is closing digital divides where progress depends on seamless online access.
The Piedmont Region, stretching from the foothills to the coastal plain, includes key urban centers, rural communities, and hubs of commerce like Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Durham. Its strategic geography, diverse population, and growing demand for digital infrastructure made it a high-priority zone for Brightspeed’s 2023 expansion efforts.
Stretching between the coastal plains to the east and the Appalachian Mountains to the west, North Carolina’s Piedmont Region forms the state’s central backbone. It encompasses major urban clusters such as Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Raleigh-Durham, all of which drive industrial diversity in manufacturing, banking, technology, and education.
This central corridor fuels over half of North Carolina’s GDP, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Manufacturing remains a dominant sector, but entrepreneurship, biotechnology, and advanced logistics are steadily accelerating. The region’s proximity to interstates I-40, I-85, and I-77, plus access to railways and international airports, reinforces its status as the state’s logistical hub.
The population density, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, runs the spectrum. Mecklenburg and Wake counties top 2,000 residents per square mile, while neighboring Burke or Davidson counties hover near 200. This mix provides both the infrastructure of a metro economy and the accessibility of rural living.
Educational attainment varies across counties, yet regional averages still show over 88% of residents aged 25+ hold a high school diploma and approximately 34% have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher. With younger populations migrating from rural communities into urban centers, the region faces population shifts that underscore a growing need for consistent and fast digital access across all zones.
As residents split their daily routines between metro business districts and outlying suburban or rural areas, the demand for high-speed fiber connectivity does not follow city boundaries. A family farm in Rowan County with smart irrigation systems needs bandwidth that mirrors that of a downtown Charlotte fintech startup. Telecommuting, remote education, telehealth services, and cloud-based logistics continue to expand, creating digital pressure points in traditionally under-connected areas.
The pandemic deepened the digital divide here. In counties like Anson and Montgomery, over 25% of households lacked access to high-speed internet in 2020, based on FCC Form 477 data. By contrast, parts of Forsyth County surpassed 90% connectivity. These gaps generate uneven access to opportunities—and sharply define the value of modern infrastructure.
The Piedmont Region doesn’t just want better internet—it requires it to remain competitive, connected, and inclusive. That’s where strategic fiber deployments reshape more than connections; they restructure economic potential at a regional level.
Brightspeed’s network expansion in North Carolina’s Piedmont region follows a purpose-built fiber optic deployment model. The company invests in symmetrical fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) architecture, which means fiber lines run directly into homes and business locations. This design eliminates bottlenecks seen in legacy copper or hybrid coaxial networks. In practical terms, it allows every connected premise to receive unshared, consistent bandwidth.
Construction of this fiber network includes the installation of new fiber lines along core routes, the development of local access nodes, and integration into Brightspeed’s national backbone for intercity routing. Network engineers use geospatial mapping and predictive analytics to site infrastructure where long-term usage demand will grow, ensuring expansion supports future community needs as well as current connectivity gaps.
Fiber technology delivers data at the speed of light—literally. With Brightspeed's implementation, customers in the Piedmont region gain access to multi-gigabit speeds, including 1 Gbps and beyond. These speeds support real-time applications like telehealth, virtual classrooms, 4K streaming, and cloud-based business systems without buffering or latency delays.
Unlike older DSL and cable systems subject to congestion during peak use, FTTP provides dedicated access. That means downloads, uploads, and streaming activity remain consistent—even when neighbors are online simultaneously. Additionally, fiber infrastructure supports upgrades over time without digging up existing lines, making it inherently scalable for decades to come.
Over 10,000 locations across the Piedmont region are now connected to Brightspeed’s newly deployed fiber network. These include addresses in counties such as Davidson, Rowan, Winston, Guilford, and Iredell. The company’s geographic strategy aligns expansions with underserved census blocks, layering infrastructure through rural and suburban zones alike.
Using Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) and passive optical networking (PON), Brightspeed boosts signal capacity without requiring active components in the field. Each central location, or optical line terminal (OLT), handles thousands of endpoints through fiber splits. These technological efficiencies shorten build time and extend fiber’s footprint rapidly, lowering per-user costs while upgrading the regional information infrastructure.
Where do you see your city in this rollout? Projects under construction are set to extend fiber to even more localities by late 2024, fueling both individual connections and the broader digital ecosystem of North Carolina’s Piedmont region.
Brightspeed is actively reshaping high-speed internet access across the Piedmont region by deploying a robust, fiber-optic powered broadband network. With ownership of its infrastructure and operations, Brightspeed isn’t leasing last-mile access — it’s building it. This private investment positions Brightspeed as a key architect of next-generation connectivity.
The company has committed to connecting over 1 million locations across its 20-state footprint, and North Carolina remains a cornerstone of that strategy. Within the Piedmont region alone, Brightspeed has already activated over 10,000 homes and businesses, with thousands more planned in 2024. Each connection is powered by a new, purpose-built fiber network capable of symmetrical speeds up to 1 Gbps.
Brightspeed’s deployment is not scattershot — it's methodical. The plan unfolds in several targeted phases, beginning with areas that demonstrate high demand and limited service options. Initial construction kicked off in early Q2 2023 and focused on pre-qualified phases guided by internal market analysis and community feedback.
Phase One installations wrapped by the end of Q4 2023, delivering service to over 10,000 locations. Phase Two, launched in Q1 2024, advances the buildout into additional towns and suburbs, aiming to double addressable coverage through mid-2025. Concurrent engineering teams support every active phase to minimize overlap and compress deployment cycles.
More neighborhoods are in queue for activation, with Brightspeed’s GIS-integrated project roadmap dynamically adjusting to construction timelines and permit clearance.
Brightspeed’s rapid advancement in the Piedmont region hinges on targeted financial support from both federal and state sources. The company secured substantial funding through the North Carolina Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Grant Program. In this round of grants, the North Carolina Department of Information Technology awarded Brightspeed over $9 million to deploy high-speed internet infrastructure in underserved counties including Davidson, Randolph, and Rowan. Additional local funds and in-kind community contributions further strengthened project viability.
The allocation of grant funds directly correlates with a clear economic benefit. Broadband infrastructure development catalyzes job creation, improves property values, and enables digital workforce participation. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, a 10% increase in broadband penetration can boost annual GDP growth by approximately 1.2% in rural areas. For the Piedmont region—where agriculture, small businesses, and education form the economic backbone—wider connectivity unlocks substantial long-term returns. Financing was directed toward areas with documented need and high potential return-on-investment as assessed in local broadband availability maps and census tract income data.
Grant funding expedited Brightspeed’s fiber deployment schedule by removing capital constraints and reducing risk, enabling implementation in a 12-month window instead of the typical multi-year rollout. By integrating state-level mapping data and census-block targeting, Brightspeed reached communities that had previously been excluded from private-sector expansion plans. Over 10,000 households and businesses throughout the region were connected as a direct result of the accelerated infrastructure timeline made possible through subsidy applied to network buildouts, engineering, and deployment labor.
Each grant-supported build effectively closed critical gaps while amplifying speed-to-deployment, allowing Brightspeed to outpace traditional infrastructure expansion timelines and meet community demand more effectively.
In North Carolina’s Piedmont region, rural households have long grappled with poor internet infrastructure, limiting access to work, education, healthcare, and more. Recent network deployments by Brightspeed are reversing that trend. High-speed fiber access now reaches communities previously left behind by legacy networks, directly addressing long-standing disparities in digital connectivity.
The Federal Communications Commission's 2022 Broadband Progress Report noted that 22.3% of rural North Carolinians lacked access to broadband internet that meets the minimum speed benchmark of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. In areas upgraded by Brightspeed, symmetrical speeds of up to 1 Gbps now reach homes and businesses, eliminating bottlenecks that once hampered virtual learning, telehealth, and remote work.
Residents in several counties including Randolph, Davidson, Rowan, and Davie now benefit from newly built or upgraded infrastructure. In places like Denton and Welcome, where connectivity was limited or unavailable, thousands of households now enjoy access to consistent, high-speed internet. These communities, once described as digital deserts, are seeing transformation in how residents live, learn, and connect.
“Before the upgrade, we had to drive our daughter into town just to get a reliable connection for her virtual classes,” says Rachel T., a parent and lifelong resident of rural Davidson County. “Now, she logs on in seconds and streams without a hiccup.”
James Miller, a farmer near Linwood, describes how fiber connectivity changed his daily operations. “We monitor irrigation, feed delivery, and livestock with smart devices now. Our entire workflow went digital last season because we finally had the speed to support it.”
For Marisol E., a small business owner outside Thomasville, access to fiber internet removed a critical obstacle. “Shipping platforms would crash on the old service. Today, I run two online storefronts smoothly. New customers find me online, and I can respond quickly without downtime.”
These first-hand accounts underscore a broader reality: investments in equitable internet access tangibly improve opportunities for rural communities throughout the Piedmont region.
Reliable internet access reshapes how communities function, learn, and care for their citizens. With Brightspeed now connecting over 10,000 locations across North Carolina’s Piedmont region, broadband infrastructure isn’t just another utility—it’s a catalyst for community development.
In education, fiber-based connections close the distance between students and opportunities. In households now served by Brightspeed, students attend virtual classes without buffering, download multimedia-rich materials in seconds, and access research databases from their rural homes. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 70% of teachers assign homework requiring internet access. Brightspeed's expansion ensures that students in the Piedmont region aren’t left behind.
Broadband is equally reshaping healthcare delivery. Telehealth usage surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, and stabilized at rates nearly 38 times higher than before 2020, per a McKinsey & Company analysis. Brightspeed’s high-speed fiber now enables real-time video consultations, remote monitoring, and faster access to digital health records, helping patients across Alamance, Davidson, and Randolph counties receive timely care without traveling long distances.
And for professionals, the shift to remote work is no longer temporary. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that over 15% of North Carolina’s workforce now works from home full-time. Stable, scalable broadband is the spine of this transformation—driving job retention, work-life balance, and economic resilience.
These changes are not built in isolation. Brightspeed’s rollout includes collaboration with local governments, non-profits, and educational institutions. Municipalities have played an instrumental role by streamlining permitting and infrastructure access. Local schools provide community hubs for digital literacy programs, extending resources to parents and adults as well. Non-profit organizations contribute by identifying underserved populations and coordinating outreach across diverse neighborhoods.
The goal isn’t just connection, but inclusion. Brightspeed participates in regional digital equity programs aimed at affordability, basic skills training, and accessible devices. Many eligible households leverage the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which reduces monthly broadband costs by up to $30 for low-income families. Brightspeed aligns its service offerings accordingly, delivering high-speed access without pricing out the very communities it intends to serve.
Further, Brightspeed partners with educational institutions to distribute low-cost or refurbished laptops, ensuring that fast internet is matched with practical hardware. Community workshops on cybersecurity, job applications, and financial literacy round out a holistic approach. These initiatives guarantee that connectivity leads to participation—and participation leads to progress.
Brightspeed’s broadband expansion has injected measurable momentum into the Piedmont region’s economic landscape. By bringing high-speed fiber connectivity to more than 10,000 new locations in North Carolina, Brightspeed didn’t just improve internet access—it expanded economic potential.
Data from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce show that communities gaining access to broadband see up to a 1.8% increase in employment and GDP growth. This direct correlation between connectivity and economic development holds true across both urban and rural sectors.
Small businesses form the backbone of local economies across the Piedmont, with over 900,000 small business entities active across North Carolina. Access to fast, reliable internet strengthens their ability to reach customers, streamline operations, and scale services.
Increased broadband speeds directly reduce digital lags that once hampered productivity. As a result, small businesses can compete not just locally but nationally, and in many cases, globally.
A fiber-connected community becomes a magnet for commercial and residential real estate growth. Across U.S. markets, homes with fiber access sell for up to 3.1% more, according to a study by the Fiber Broadband Association. For businesses, fiber availability influences site selection during expansion decisions.
Brightspeed’s investment in the region has altered the calculus for investors, site selectors, and developers. Previously overlooked towns now field interest from logistics firms, remote-first companies, and tech-driven startups. Real estate development closely follows broadband expansion with offices, co-working spaces, and residential projects aligned to capitalize on the productivity advantages of fiber connectivity.
In today’s economy, connectivity equals capability. Infrastructure projects like Brightspeed’s don’t just shape how people communicate—they determine where economic momentum builds. The Piedmont region’s growing digital infrastructure positions it as an attractive destination for innovation-forward ventures, modern workforce dynamics, and sustainable long-term development.
More than 10,000 new Brightspeed connections in North Carolina’s Piedmont region have reshaped how businesses operate, deliver services, and compete in statewide and national markets. Whether in retail storefronts, farmlands, manufacturing floors, or co-working hubs, the direct impact of high-speed fiber internet is measurable and ongoing.
For retail businesses in towns like Salisbury and Lexington, fiber infrastructure has eliminated latency issues that previously hindered e-commerce adoption. Boutique clothing stores now run point-of-sale systems completely in the cloud, enabling real-time inventory updates and seamless customer checkouts. With symmetrical upload and download speeds exceeding 500 Mbps, companies facilitate high-volume payment transactions during peak hours without system drops or delays.
In Rowan and Davie counties, broadband access has brought smart farming online. Row crop growers and poultry producers now rely on connected IoT sensors for soil monitoring, automated irrigation, and environmental controls within livestock housing. Tractors equipped with GPS relays sync in real-time with mapping software, optimizing planting trajectories and reducing diesel usage.
In industrial parks near Kernersville and Statesville, small and mid-size manufacturers have integrated broadband into every layer of operations. Fiber-backed connections support CAD collaboration across design teams and allow seamless data syncs to external partners. Automated manufacturing systems, reliant on uninterrupted data transfers, now operate around the clock with error rates trending down year over year.
In places like Mebane and Mocksville, coworking spaces and incubators have sprouted in response to growing entrepreneurial demand. Startups in digital marketing, fintech, and health tech use fiber connectivity to support rapid iteration and secure cloud infrastructure. These businesses move from ideation to market in weeks—not months—thanks to agile development environments made possible by uninterrupted internet access.
Enterprise zones near Winston-Salem and High Point have seen job creation increase at twice the pace of comparable regions without fiber coverage. Properties with fiber-ready certifications command higher commercial lease value—averaging 14% more per square foot according to 2023 regional data reports. Supply chains get tighter, client response times shorten, and regional brand reputation rises as companies deliver reliably and efficiently.
With over 10,000 homes and businesses newly connected, the Piedmont Region of North Carolina is witnessing a significant leap forward in technological capability. Brightspeed's fiber-optic network buildout is not just about faster internet—it signals a structural upgrade in the region's digital backbone. These high-capacity connections are enabling quantum leaps in data transfer, bandwidth-reliant applications, and real-time digital services that local communities previously couldn't access at scale.
Innovation clusters are beginning to flourish where robust digital access now exists. Educational institutions, healthcare providers, agricultural innovators, and small tech startups are already adapting operations to take advantage of dramatically improved connectivity. For example, telehealth solutions—once limited by unstable or slow networks—are expanding in rural clinics, reducing patient wait times and broadening access to specialists.
Simultaneously, small businesses are adopting cloud-based tools like CRM systems, remote collaboration platforms, and AI-driven analytics previously inaccessible without high-speed, reliable internet. These changes accelerate digital transformation throughout the region, leveling the playing field between metro and rural enterprise environments.
Piedmont's burgeoning tech capacity is now aligning with broader North Carolina innovation agendas, including the North Carolina Digital Equity Plan and the NC TECH Association's efforts to build a future-ready workforce. Brightspeed’s footprint connects rural towns directly to urban innovation hubs like Durham and Charlotte, enabling cross-region collaboration and workforce mobility across sectors—from advanced manufacturing to biotech research.
Through targeted investments and strategic alignment with state-led digital initiatives, Brightspeed is catalyzing a regional transformation rooted in technology accessibility and growth.
This milestone—Brightspeed connecting over 10,000 homes and businesses in North Carolina's Piedmont region—demands visibility among the people and institutions it affects directly. The publication and distribution strategy has been designed to speak to four key audiences: residents who are now connected, policymakers focused on infrastructure development, local businesses benefiting from reliable broadband, and media platforms interested in regional growth stories.
Different stakeholders require different entry points into the Brightspeed story. To reach them effectively:
The broader campaign leverages both digital and physical distribution. The story will headline Brightspeed's monthly newsletter, sent to subscribers across North Carolina and beyond. On social media, segmented posts will tease insights with clickable links—infographics on Facebook for community engagement, spotlight interviews on Instagram, and infographic-rich briefs on Twitter targeting thought leaders and journalists. Finally, local community mailers, particularly in Alamance, Davidson, and Randolph counties, will carry a printed recap with a QR code linking directly to Brightspeed’s interactive online coverage.
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