A homegrown ISP got dealt in on a multi-million dollar federal grant.

HODGENVILLE, Ky. — Country music plays from an old radio in the corner of the LaRue County Road Department as Cam Lasley installs a new type of wireless technology across the shop.

“Most of our work’s done right in LaRue County where I grew up at,” he said, drilling holes and pushing wire. 

He owns Telecast Communications. Recently, the small business won $1.2 million to install internet—and he’s doing it free—for nearly 2000 homes in west Hodgenville and northern Nelson County. 

“It’s really rewarding being able to go to certain areas and be like, ‘hey, we’re gonna be able to deliver you something you’ve never had before, and it’s gonna be reliable internet,'” he said.  

The funding comes from the federal Broadband Equity and Access Deployment Program, which is providing $376 million for internet upgrades across Kentucky. Telecast joins industry heavyweights such as Comcast and AT&T on the recipient list.

“We’re actually here in this community,” Lasley said. “We know this area, we know what it’s gonna take. We’re gonna deliver on the promises that we’ve been making to everybody else in this community for the past five years we’ve provided service.”

Lasley’s business actually started with a tower next door to the road department. Back then, in 2020, he served about 60 customers. He’s grown that now to 600. And with this grant, it’s only set to grow even more.”

The local wireless network he is building is easy to expand. It transmits from radio towers to barns and grain silos, and a single Ethernet cable delivers internet into the home.

“Typically, all of our installs take 90 minutes or less,” Lasley said.

Those installs for the grant will bring speeds of at least 100 Megabits per second—to homes that usually have less than half that on average. 

He works solo in the field while his wife manages the office phone.

“People want hometown service, and that’s exactly what we’ll give them,” Lasley said.

He says he’ll hire four full-time employees as a result of the grant, and he’s putting up $800,000 of his own company’s money for the expansion. 

Lasley thinks he’ll have most of the new homes added by the end of 2026.Â