Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
A proposal before county officials from Comcast would expand cellular, Internet and other broadband services to numerous communities in the greater area outside of Monticello.
As presented to the Jefferson County Commission on Thursday evening, Aug. 18, the expansion could potentially impact as many as 898 homes.
The map that Comcast representatives Bill Ferry and Stephanie Bowden shared with the commission showed the various communities in colored clusters. A breakdown of the clusters showed 151 homes in the Springdale and Parkway Pines and Hunters Ridge
communities; 124 homes in the Drifton and Thompson Valley Road communities; 229 homes in the combined communities of North Florida Pecan and Sundance Hills, Longview and Rissman, Talley Hills, Valley View Estates and Hiawatha Farms; and 394 homes in the combined communities of Oakland Plantation, Great Oaks, Avenue of the Oaks, Sweetfield Forest and Christmas Acres, Lloyd Acres, Sweetfield and Lloyd.
Depending on what clusters the local officials chose to focus on would determine the project’s cost, which could range from a subsidy of $1,080,000 at the low end, to one of $2,460,000 at the high end.
Ferry in his presentation underscored that Comcast was the nation’s largest broadband provider with 29 million customers, as well as being the dominant player in Florida. He further noted that earlier in the year the company had upgraded its broadband services to the Monticello area, so that the city had the latest available services.
Comcast, Ferry said, has always been an urban cable company. But given the county’s interest in expanding broadband service to rural areas, Comcast had put together a proposal in clusters, each of which represented an extension of the company’s existing plan.
“What we have here is a grouping of different areas that you need to consider, hopefully in partnership with us,” Ferry said, referring to the map.
What the company had done, he said, was to do what was what called a ride out, which meant literally going out and looking at everything, from each possible pole to every single easement.
“We actually invested some money to do that,” Ferry said. “And again, that’s on us to do this, to make sure that we have some good figures for you. And we looked at these in clusters, because they would be extensions.”
Ferry added the caveat that there existed an assumed cost of about $250,000 because of the changes that the company would have to make to its central office, consisting of the installation of a piece of equipment to allow for the extensions. The amount however, he clarified, was assumed in the estimated cost of each cluster.
“So, for example, if you were interested in us building in that top cluster, it would be the price shown there,” Ferry said. “But if you had a second cluster developed, such as the one at the Drifton area, you would subtract $250,000 from the shown price, as each cluster assumes the $250,000, but you only need that piece of equipment one time in Monticello to service all the clusters.”
In other words, he said, if two clusters were developed, $250,000 would be taken from the combined total, and if three clusters were developed, $500,000 would be subtracted from that total, and so on.
The possible ways for funding the project, Ferry mentioned, included the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the funding that is slated to come down from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (FDEO). Some of the funding, Ferry said, Comcast could apply for on behalf of the county, provided that the community endorsed the ask in the form of letters of support.
One concern that local officials underscored was not wanting to step on the toes of Tri-County Electric, which is working with the county to install broadband in its service area and possibly beyond.
“Tri-County is working with us and it borrowed $60 million and a huge piece of that is the FDEO grants,” Commissioner Betsey Barfield said. “So as we move forward with this conversation, remember that we’re not going to overstep our bounds with Tri-County. Tri-County is our priority. So whatever we do, we’re not stepping on their toes.”
That said, there were a lot of other monies available elsewhere, Barfield said. So, if the board decision was to pursue a partnership with Comcast, the county, Comcast and Tri-County could work together to pursue the different projects.
Ferry agreed. Big as the project was and given the different areas to be served, his company expected that the county would work with different providers, he said.
“There are some places in the county that are so far out it just doesn’t make sense for us to reach economically and that’s why you need to work with other providers,” he said. “So yes, we’re all working together to do this.”
He further clarified that absent the federal and state funding, it would not be economically feasible for Comcast to undertake the project on its own, given the distances and the very fiber-rich nature of the project.
“It’s a capital improvement project,” Ferry said. “And the payback model, due to the number of customers there, is not doable without the subsidies.”
Ferry said despite the subsidies, Comcast would still be investing a significant amount of its money in the project. For the county’s part, it has $2.2 million in ARPA funding, $800,000 in CARES Act funding and $500,000 from NextEra. There is the possibility that some of the RESTORE Act money from the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf may also be used.
The commissioners discussed various options given the available funding, such as selecting single or combination clusters for broadband expansion or even using the special non-ad valorem assessment as another possibility. In the end, however, they postpone a decision on the Comcast proposal, until they could hear from Tri-County and Uniti Now, another broadband provider.