Celebrate the successful implementation of a first-of-its-kind project to bring WiFi and broadband access to rural Allendale County, South Carolina.
USC Salkehatchie Campus
465 James Brandt Blvd, Allendale, SC 29810
The South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff and multiple state, local and private-sector partners invite the public and media to an event on May 7, 2021, at the University of Salkehatchie Commons celebrating the successful implementation of a first-of-its-kind in South Carolina broadband project that rapidly brought Wi-Fi access to 1,000 homes in 60 days where no access existed before and established multiple broadband access points in rural Allendale County.
The Wi-Fi access was made possible through the use of vertical assets in the community, including SCETV broadcast towers, and through technology developed by corporate partners to take advantage of the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS). The Federal Communications Commission made the CBRS available for commercial deployment in January 2020, and the Allendale project is one of the first CBRS deployments in the nation.
This innovative pilot project provides a scalable model that communities around South Carolina and the nation could follow to bridge the enormous digital divide that so many rural communities face.
AGENDA
1:00-1:10 PM Danny Black, President and CEO, SouthernCarolina Alliance
1:10-1:25 PM Keynote Speaker: U.S. House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn
1:25-1:30 PM Charles R. Gooding, Chairman, Allendale County Council
1:30-1:35 PM Dr. Chris Nesmith, Dean, USC Salkehatchie
1:35-1:40 PM Dr. Margaret Gilmore, Superintendent, Allendale County School District
1:40-1:45 PM Nanette Edwards, Executive Director, ORS
1:45-1:50 PM Anthony Padgett, President and CEO, SCETV
1:50-2:00 PM Jim Stritzinger, Broadband Coordinator, ORS
Project partners will be available for interviews and tours to see equipment immediately following the press conference.
Project Partners
- Allendale County School District
- Allendale Hampton Jasper Regional Library
- Dominion Energy South Carolina
- Linksys
- Ookla
- Palmetto Rural Telephone Cooperative
- Revolution D, Inc.
- Siklu
- SC Department of Aging
- SC Department of Education
- SC Educational Television (SCETV)
- SC Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS)
- SouthernCarolina Alliance
- Town of Allendale
- University of South Carolina-Salkehatchie
- Valet Technologies