Celebrating Fiscal Year Milestones & Looking Ahead

As our 2026 fiscal year came to a close on June 30, we wanted to take a moment to look back at everything we have accomplished together. Thanks to dedicated infrastructure deployment and community support, BrightRidge has achieved historic growth in connecting our region.

Bridging the Rural Digital Divide. Through our Middle Mile grant partnership with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TN-ECD), we officially completed network construction to 2,067 homes that previously lacked high-speed internet.

Residents in Fall Branch, South Central, Lamar, Bowmantown, Buckingham Road, and Mill Springs across Washington and Greene counties now have access to our nation-leading, 10Gig symmetrical Broadband services. This infrastructure provides superior connectivity compared to most of the American public, empowering families to easily stream remote education, telecommute for work, access telehealth, and thrive online.

Exceeding Our Goals. In addition to our grant-funded projects, we extended our network reach to an additional 2,829 homes and businesses over the last 12 months, supporting new construction and neighborhoods adjacent to our existing footprint. When BrightRidge launched our original 8-phase Broadband rollout plan in FY 2019, our first budget projected passing 41,260 locations by the end of FY 2026. Because of efficient scaling and hard work, we wrapped up FY 2026 with 55,034 locations passed — surpassing our initial projections by nearly 13,000 locations!

What’s Next for FY 2027? Our new fiscal year began July 1, and we are carrying this momentum forward. This year, we will begin fiber construction on the TN-ECD’sBroadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Grant for the “Washington 2 Area,” bringing service to approximately 488 locations in Eastern Washington County. Along with these grant-matched builds, we plan to expand services to more than 1,200 additional homes.

Through all this growth, our core mission remains unchanged. We are proud to provide you with the most reliable services available at competitive prices, backed by local customer support. Best of all, we have achieved all of this while never raising our broadband rates and locking them in through 2030.

Thank you for being a valued BrightRidge customer!