SUMMERTON, S.C. — There's a continued push in South Carolina to get broadband internet access to rural areas. In the Clarendon County town of Summerton, there's a survey underway to see how much the need is so the service could be brought to people who need it.
The survey is being conducted by Santee Lynches Regional Council of Governments that serves Clarendon, Lee, Kershaw, and Sumter counties.
“It has been a challenge in the community where there is significant amount of people or certain communities that don’t have internet service to where the kids could have access to it," said Mayor Tony Junious.
The mission is to bring internet to underserved areas of the state. This survey is made possible through a partnership with the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff and South Carolina Department of Administration as part of the Get Connected SC campaign.
This campaign was announced by Governor Henry McMaster and Congressman Jim Clyburn in February and is designed to identify the areas of greatest need in the state.
“We’re getting in there, getting into the weeds in these communities and getting the people out to tell us hey I’m unserved or I don’t have internet of course," said Santee Lynches executive director Dennis Cyphers.
In 2021,Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) which included $65 billion for the deployment of broadband infrastructure development.
The survey will extend through summer 2023 and its data will help create a five year broadband plan for the state, and help push for additional grant funding on the federal level.
According to Santee Lynches, the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program (BEAD) in addition to the Digital Equity program can bring more $100 million in funding to the state.
The survey is currently online.