Cox Recognized with National Award for Digital Equity Efforts

Continues to extend its fiber-to-the-home network to unserved areas

ATLANTA, May 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Cox was recently recognized as the winner of the Rural Connectivity Award during the Broadband Communities Summit's 2024 Cornerstone Awards. The award honors an internet service provider (ISP), community or municipality that is leading initiatives to improve connectivity for rural areas.

"Cox Communications is building networks that will offer economic competitiveness to rural Americans and has prioritized providing affordable internet to the households it provides access to," said Brad Randall, Editor, Broadband Communities and Cornerstone Awards judge. "As a company, Cox Communications has reported through the roof customer satisfaction scores and has been one of the most active companies working to advance rural connectivity in the United States. Considering the sheer volume of homes they've provided access to in rural America, and the extensive resources they've invested into building rural networks, the Cornerstone Awards judges saw Cox Communications as a beyond worthy recipient of the 2024 Rural Connectivity Award."

Cox is continuing its commitment to digital equity by expanding its fiber-to-the-home network to rural and hard-to-reach areas that previously lacked an adequate broadband connection. Over the past year and a half, the company has expanded to reach nearly 60,000 households in Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Virginia that were previously unserved¹ or underserved, with the aim of creating greater opportunities for economic and educational advancement through connectivity.

According to a survey conducted by the company last year, customers and community leaders indicated that availability of high-speed internet in new market areas, previously considered unserved or underserved, stimulates economic growth in rural communities, narrows the education gap between lower- and higher-income households and encourages younger generations to remain in their communities, with greater prospects of remote learning and working. 86% of consumers say access to broadband has improved their lives.

In addition to expanding broadband to areas previously unserved, Cox has connected more than 5 million people to the internet through its digital equity programs including Connect2Compete, ConnectAssist and the Cox Digital Academy designed for low-income households.

Cox has a strong history of bringing the most advanced technology to offer speed, reliability, and performance when customers need it. The company has invested more than $11 billion in network upgrades to deliver some of the most powerful internet, TV, phone, smart home and mobile services and will continue making multibillion-dollar annual infrastructure investments over the next several years. The company is building out its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service while also offering multi-gig speeds powered by fiber to 50% of customers today.

Cox also is proactively addressing the convergence of wired and wireless connectivity by giving customers new opportunities to bring together their mobile and broadband services, offering fast, fiber-powered internet at home packaged with unbeatable 5G reliability on the go, delivering a simplified experience at a better value.

About Cox Communications
Cox Communications is committed to creating meaningful moments of human connection through technology. As the largest private broadband company in America, we operate fiber-powered networks in more than 30 states, providing connections and advanced managed IT and cloud services for nearly seven million homes and businesses nationwide. We're dedicated to empowering others to build a better future and celebrate diverse products, people, suppliers, communities and the characteristics that make each one unique. Cox Communications is the largest division of Cox Enterprises, a family-owned business founded in 1898 by Governor James M. Cox. 

1 "Unserved" locations are defined as having broadband service with speeds below 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload and "underserved" is defined as having broadband service with speeds below 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. Section 60102(a)(1), Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Nov. 2021.

SOURCE Cox Communications