Two separate rural fiber projects hit milestones in North Carolina this month — one finished, one announced. Together they put fast internet within reach of roughly 25,000 homes that mostly had few or no wired options before.
Star Communications completes its $31.6 million Sampson and Bladen build
Star Communications, the member-owned cooperative based in Clinton, announced in August that it has completed its USDA ReConnect-funded fiber-to-the-home project across Sampson and Bladen counties. The build strung roughly 691 miles of fiber and makes fiber broadband available to 8,749 households, 19 businesses, 10 educational facilities and three community centers. The $31.6 million project was funded by a $23.7 million ReConnect grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture plus $7.9 million of Star’s own investment.
Kinetic adds 16,000 fiber passings across 40+ communities
On 5-Aug-2026, Kinetic by Windstream announced that its second-quarter construction brought multi-gig fiber to an additional 16,000 North Carolina homes across more than 40 communities. That is on top of the company’s earlier groundbreaking in Cabarrus and Stanly counties, where an $8 million build is scheduled to wrap this year.
The bigger backdrop: BEAD construction starts statewide
These projects land as North Carolina’s federally funded BEAD program moves from paperwork to construction. The state’s first wave of approved awards — more than $300 million — is set to connect over 93,000 homes, businesses and community institutions, with most construction running between 2026 and 2030.
What this means if you live in North Carolina
If you are in the Sampson or Bladen county footprint, Star’s network is complete — that service is orderable now, not a promise. The Kinetic passings are similarly live: if you checked availability at your address a year ago and came up empty, it is worth checking again. For everyone else, BEAD milestones are construction news, not service dates — the practical options today remain Spectrum and AT&T in their wired footprints, and Starlink where wires do not reach.
Sources
- GlobeNewswire — “North Carolina Benefits From 16,000 New Kinetic Fiber Builds” (5-Aug-2026)
- 107.7 The Bounce — “$31M Fiber Network Completed in Sampson and Bladen Counties” (25-Aug-2026)
- NC Governor’s Office — “Launch of Statewide High-Speed Internet Projects to Connect 93,000 Locations by 2030” (23-Apr-2026)