SYLVA — Students in 45 rural schools in Western North Carolina just saw their access to the future get a lot faster.

BalsamWest FiberNet, the partnership formed by Drake Enterprises and the Eastern Band of the Cherokee, announced the opening of a new ultra high-speed fiber-optic network as the first phase of the WNC-EdNet.

Internet service has been available in the west, but connections were still painfully slow for many educators, said Cecil Groves, president of Southwestern Community College. “This has enormous impact for the future of learning. You can have the capacity for 3-D imaging and doing holograms. Students in a school like Nantahala that graduate only two to six people a year will have the same opportunity as students at larger schools in Raleigh or Charlotte.”

The benefits go beyond the schools in Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties as well as the Qualla Boundary, supporters said.

“This network will serve as a catalyst for advances in education as well as health care, public services, economic opportunities, and job creation for the Eastern Band and Western North Carolina,” said Brandon Stephens, Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians and chairman of the Board of BalsamWest FiberNET.

Part of the funding for the WNC-EdNet, which will be owned and operated by the schools, was given by the Carlton family of Cashiers. “We want students and entrepreneurs in our part of the state to have every advantage possible, and if investing in technology gives Jackson County an edge, then I can’t think of a better way to do it,” Pat Carlton said.

Drake and the tribe have invested $14 million to build BalsamWest FiberNet as a 300-mile underground ring through Western North Carolina and parts of Georgia and Tennessee. The rest of the WNC-EdNet is scheduled to be completed this year, connecting a total of 70 schools, colleges and universities in the region.

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