In July 2006 and November 2007, OneGeorgia awarded BRIDGE grants totaling $2,788,600 to the City of Arlington and the subsequently formed South Georgia Regional Information Technology Authority (SGRITA) to assess the technology needs and construct wireless broadband infrastructure to provide service to Baker, Calhoun, Early, Miller and Mitchell counties.

Phase one consists of installing seventeen (17) towers with Radio Frequency (RF) equipment to build a wireless broadband backbone super beltway around the under-served 5 county area. Nine (9) smaller towers were installed at 9 of the 12 school facilities that have joined the SGRITA Wireless Broadband Community.

Thomasville, Georgia became the first city to fully deploy its wireless network with assistance from Governor Perdue’s Wireless Communities Georgia (WCG) program when city officials held a “wire cutting” ceremony on October 21, 2008.

The city received $500,000 in September 2006 from the WCG program and supplemented its award with a 50 percent match. As a result of the new wireless network:

- police can access critical information and upload videos from their squad cars, which allows more time on patrol,

- building schematics are available to firefighters, and

- residents enjoy free access to online city services.