Thousands of Newberry County residents now have access to high-speed internet thanks to the combined efforts of Newberry Electric Cooperative and West Carolina Rural Telephone Cooperative.

Four years after the COVID-19 pandemic illustrated the need for broadband expansion to accommodate remote learning and work from home, Newberry Electric has connected more than 6,000 Newberry-area customers to high-speed internet through its broadband subsidiary, Carolina Connect.

Meanwhile, West Carolina Telephone’s broadband arm, WCFiber, has strung fiber optic cable to about 2,000 customers in the city of Newberry, linking them to a larger network that spans several South Carolina counties.

Their work has made a difference in a rural county where as recently as a few years ago, many residents had only dial-up internet service or no internet at all. That lack of access was increasingly untenable in a 21st-century world where everything from school and work to shopping and banking is done digitally.

“We asked ourselves, ‘What can we do to make their lives better?’” said Keith Avery, CEO of Newberry Electric Cooperative. “And high-speed internet, of course, has to be at the forefront of that.”

The two cooperatives’ progress in Newberry County has been fueled by millions of dollars in state and federal grants administered through the South Carolina Broadband Office.

It also has hinged on close cooperation between Newberry Electric and West Carolina Telephone.