A $21 million grant application to expand broadband access in Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama remains alive and well.

“It’s under active consideration by the federal government,” said David Howerin, planning director of the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission.

The NWGRC spearheaded a public-private partnership that allowed the Appalachian Valley Fiber Network LLC to apply for the grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The proposed service area covers Floyd, Bartow, Chattooga, Polk, Walker, Dade, Gordon, Paulding and Haralson counties in Georgia and Calhoun, Clay and Cleburne counties in Alabama.

Broadband is available to only about 50.5 percent of the households in the region, but extension of an existing fiber network would bring the service within reach of another 144,082 households and 8,327 businesses, according to an executive summary of the application.

A regional data center in Rome would be linked to facilities in Atlanta and Chicago, and the northern end of the fiber would terminate in Chattanooga.

Additionally, the build into Alabama is a major step toward a link with Birmingham, which then links to central and South America, the report states.

President Barack Obama included awards totaling $48.5 million to two other Georgia projects — a partnership between Lincoln, Taliaferro and Wilkes counties and service to Sapelo Island — among the 66 he announced July 2.

Howerin said the Appalachian Valley application is under consideration for a subsequent round of awards expected later this year.

The ARRA appropriated $7.2 billion for two broadband initiatives aimed at expanding access across the country. The goal is to increase jobs, spur investments in technology and infrastructure, and provide long-term economic benefits.

If approved, the Appalachian Valley project is expected to create 75 direct jobs, 74 indirect jobs for suppliers and 83 induced jobs when the wages from the other jobs are spent, according to the application.