Zito Media CAB-1 Grant Project 2024-2026

Zito Media won the CAB-1 Grant Award in June of 2024 to serve 518 unserved and underserved locations in Swain County. All new locations will be served by Fiber-To-The-Home GPON, with a maximum bandwidth of 1000 Mbps downstream by 1000 Mbps upstream. The map indicates the original grant application areas.

What does CAB stand for? Completing Access to Broadband Program, a NC government program, funding the terrestrial deployment of broadband within unserved areas of economically distressed counties.

The evaluation committee recommended awarding a contract to Zito West Holding, LLC (Zito Media). This vendor and its proposed project represented the best value to the state and county among the submitted proposals based on multiple components, including number of locations, number of priority locations, and financial qualifications in relation to other respondents. The selected provider will build to 32.48% of the total unserved locations, including to 350 priority locations, specified by Swain County.

Note: Unfortunately, the other Swain County specified priority areas submitted by the county were not included, such as Nantahala Gorge and Needmore Road. While this is a major disappointment, it underscores the need for continued aggressive pursuit of next rounds of broadband funding by state and federal programs.