The CEO of MCNC is being honored by the White House this week in recognition of the Triangle nonprofit organization's efforts to expand Internet service to rural regions of North Carolina.
Joe Freddoso, who has headed MCNC since 2007, is one of 11 local leaders from across the country who will be hailed Wednesday afternoon as "Champions of Change" for their efforts to improve the nation's infrastructure. Each week local leaders in different fields are being recognized by the White House for their infrastructure contributions.
"It certainly is an honor," Freddoso said Monday. "I'm really excited for the team at MCNC and for the board and for all the constituents we serve."
MCNC is in the midst of a $144 million expansion of its communications network, the N.C. Research and Education Network, which links most of the state's schools, colleges and universities. It received $104 million in federal stimulus funds for the project and came up with $40 million in matching funds, including $24 million from the Golden LEAF Foundation in Rocky Mount and $8 million of its own funds.
MCNC expects to complete the first phase of the expansion, which involves 415 miles of fiber-optic cable, by the end of March. The larger second phase of the project - which includes 1,300 miles of newly laid fiber-optic cable plus about 400 miles acquired from others - is on target to be completed by next summer.
"We tried to fill in the gaps in rural North Carolina where fiber didn't exist," Freddoso said.
MCNC currently is laying, on average, between 80 and 90 miles of fiber-optic cable a month.
"We have anywhere from 15 to 20 crews working per day, so about 300 to 400 people are working on the project in any one day," Freddoso said.
Although fiber optic is part of the state's Research and Education Network, MCNC also hopes to work with the private sector to make Internet service available to consumers in regions where it's not currently available or only available from a single provider, Freddoso said. He added that he is pleased with the interest expressed to date by independent telecommunications companies and small cable companies.
Freddoso said that he and other honorees will participate in a panel discussion on Wednesday focused on "key investments" that the nation needs to make in broadband and transportation infrastructure.
Freddoso said he doesn't know if President Barack Obama will attend the event, but if he gets the opportunity he'd like to tell the president that the nation's broadband infrastructure needs to be designed so that future upgrades in capacity and speed are feasible.
"I think in five years we are going to look at what we call high-speed today and we'll say, it's not enough to remake health care," Freddoso said. "It's not enough to run a business on the Web. It's not enough to have truly on-demand education that can train and retrain people."
