Rural Digital Opportunity Fund
Project Overview: RDOF Auction Award in Swain County
Charter won the RDOF (Rural Digital Opportunity Fund) auction and has control of almost 1/3 of Swain county tied up in their locations. The auction was by geographic boundaries, not by specific locations. Charter also won RDOF auctions in Macon and Jackson County and started their fiber to the home installations in those counties first, in 2024 and 2025. Recently, Charter has started laying underground fiber in areas of Swain County. The original project schedule was 6 years. In 2025 Charter won a schedule extension for another 2 years, to December 2028.
Project Stats
- RDOF Auction Awarded: $5,177,163
- Award Date: December 2020
- RDOF Match: None
- Swain Co. Match: None
- Locations: 3344
- Contract Signed: April 18, 2022
- Six Year Schedule: Ends December 2026
- Extension Granted: to December 2028
Project Updates
Date: August 27, 2025
Title: Swain Broadband Committee meeting update report
Overview: In July 2025, Charter got an RDOF project extension of 2 years from Dec 2026 to Dec 2028. They were also allowed to take off all their EBCI locations due to tribal refusal to let them work there.