Brightspeed Expands STEM Footprint With Second NC Bright Future Tech Lab

New updates have been reported about Brightspeed.

Brightspeed has deepened its community and talent-development strategy in North Carolina by unveiling its second Bright Future Tech Lab, this time at Orange High School in Hillsborough, following a statewide competition focused on STEM and digital skills. The initiative, run in partnership with recruiting firm Stay Plugged In, allowed schools within Brightspeed’s NC service territory to propose self-designed, AI-enabled gaming and technology labs, with Orange High selected for its inclusive, forward-looking plan to use high-performance PCs, esports infrastructure, and digital production tools to build STEM capabilities.

For Brightspeed, the program reinforces its positioning as the nation’s third-largest fiber broadband builder and as a key enabler of digital equity in its core markets, where it is rapidly scaling fiber coverage and aims to cultivate future demand and workforce readiness. The company already reaches more than 780,000 homes and businesses with fiber in North Carolina alone, with additional locations added monthly, and executives frame the lab contest as part of a broader effort to link next-generation connectivity with practical education and career pathways in technology, gaming, broadcasting, and digital media. While financial terms of the lab investment were not disclosed, the initiative supports Brightspeed’s long-term growth thesis: embedding its brand and infrastructure into local communities, supporting STEM pipelines that align with its 7.3 million-home serviceable footprint across 20 states, and strengthening relationships with schools and local officials that may prove strategically valuable as it continues to deploy fiber and advocate for public–private broadband partnerships.