The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has provided $1.9 million for a fiber optic network in six Western North Carolina counties.

The project will offer an unrivaled advance in communications for individuals, businesses, governments, health-care providers and schools, organizers say. It will also mean high-speed service will be available at a rate comparable to urban areas.

The plan targets Jackson, Macon, Swain, Clay, Cherokee and Graham counties, which have limited, and often costly, access to cable and digital subscriber line infrastructure. That's an issue the project's organizers say limits economic development, access to advanced medicine and education.

"It will help rural areas be on the same playing field," said Principal Chief Michell Hicks. "We do feel that the payback will be significant over time."

The tribe approved the funding as part of a public-private group called Balsam West FiberNET.

The group's two other partners are Southwestern Community College and Drake Enterprises, a private software company in Franklin that handles $4.5 million annually in electronic tax filings for accounting firms and some state agencies.

Cecil Groves, SCC's president, said the group's first goal is a high-speed network connecting the Eastern Band with Jackson, Macon and Swain counties. That part of the project could be completed this spring. The next step is to connect Clay, Cherokee and Graham counties.

"The project means a great deal for small businesses," Groves said. "They should be able to receive much higher- quality service, greater bandwidth, at a cost comparable to what they would pay in urban areas."

Leeann Bridges-McHattie, director of information technology at Harrah's Cherokee Casino, said the network would bring dramatic changes to her business. The casino is the largest employer in the state west of Asheville.

"What it would mean for us on the back of the house, administration side, is it will give us more bandwidth and make us more efficient," she said. "On the external side, it could be an offer that we have to our customers in terms of high-speed Internet service. If we had a business group coming in, it would be something they would benefit from."

The network will also provide a backup, or redundancy, to the existing limited fiber optics going into Cherokee and the western counties. When those lines are cut - an event that can occur during road construction and utilities maintenance - computers drop offline, mobile and land-line telephones become useless, and communication grinds to a halt.

Bridges-McHattie, like many people in the six-county area, does not have access to high-speed infrastructure at home. She is looking forward to better service away from work.

"I have a dial-up connection at home, and it just about kills me," she said. "It's really exciting. There is so much opportunity."

Groves said the spin-off benefits of economic development in business such as graphics, computer software and accounting, could mean better jobs for WNC.

The college and Drake Enterprises each contributed $1.4 million to the project. The group is also seeking funding from private, local, state and federal sources.

The three partners will own their sections of the network. The 23 strands of fiber optics in Cherokee will have a commercial value of $13 million, according to a tribal report. The network will save the Eastern Band and Drake Enterprises money in communications costs and allow the college to offer more educational services.

Groves said connecting all six western counties would cost about $10 million. The group is providing fiber-optic infrastructure but will rely on the region's service providers to handle access to the Internet. All of the counties could be connected in 18 months, he said.

"I am very pleased that the tribe has ventured with this," he said. "It shows their commitment to the whole region."