Haywood County residents and businesses will gain access to high-speed internet through a new $1.2 million fiber project announced by the N.C. Department of Information Technology's Division of Broadband and Digital Opportunity. The project, funded by over $850,000 from the federal American Rescue Plan and nearly $365,000 from broadband provider Skyrunner, Inc., will connect 359 locations to improved online services, as reported by the N.C. Department of Information Technology.
A project under the Completing Access to Broadband program is set to expand internet access to rural areas, with "27.24% of the county’s 1,318 eligible locations" expected to receive service with minimum speeds of 100 Mbps for both downloads and uploads. N.C. Department of Information Technology Secretary and State Chief Information Officer Teena Piccione stated, "This award demonstrates the importance of partnering with counties, internet service providers and the state’s mapping experts to close the digital divide."
At the 2025 North Carolina Geographic Information Systems Conference in Winston-Salem, officials announced efforts to improve internet access using advanced mapping to support emergency response and address connectivity gaps. Haywood County received an award as part of Governor Josh Stein's initiative to expand broadband access, adding to the nearly $515 million invested in the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology grants program. N.C. Department of Information Technology's dashboards, set for an April update, will track progress on projects funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, which aims to bring high-speed internet to nearly "190,000 North Carolina households and businesses," according to the N.C. Department of Information Technology.
