GREENE: Broadband project stalled for now

By Editor | November 21, 2023 |

By Carmen Ensinger

Members of the Greene County Economic Development Group (GCEDG) attended the Nov. 9 Greene County Board meeting to give board members and update on the broadband project they brought before the board earlier this year which would bring high speed fiber optic internet to every home in Greene County.
Pat Pinkston spoke on behalf of the GCEDG.
“Not really much has changed since we talked last time,” he said. “You recall that we have been working two years on this project.”
Pinkston said in that two year time frame, extensive work has been done.
“We struck an agreement with Frontier and in April of this year, they filed four grants on behalf of Greene County,” he said. “The total project cost to bring fiber to the area is almost $34 million which will cover over 3,000 locations in Greene County.”
The four grants filed by Frontier are asking for approximately $24.7 million from the Connect Illinois fund as well as funds from ARPA.
One thing that has changed is that not all of Greene County will be offered low-cost fiber internet now.
“The grants will cover grant-eligible locations in Greene County which includes all of the county with the exception of Rockbridge, which is covered out of the Chesterfield Wire Center out of Macoupin County and then Roodhouse, White Hall and Carrollton, which are not deemed grant-eligible,” he said. “They are not considered grant-eligible because they are basically considered served because they have high speed internet available to them.”
There is a $10 million limit on each grant application, which is why Frontier has submitted four applications.
“They said that the ultimate decision about whether we get one or all four of those grants would ultimately be up to the Governor’s Office,” Pinkston said. “They will recommend out of all the applications that are submitted, which ones are granted.”
The applications will be scored on a rubric system of scoring.
“We think we scored pretty well on our application,” Pinkston said. “But after they get done looking at the scoring, it goes to the Governor’s Office and they will ultimately make the final decision about which areas are going to get covered. Again, we think we have a pretty good position, but there is no guarantee of that.”
Pinkston said they are still waiting for the grants to be announced.
“They usually apply in April and they said they thought they would have grants available for delivery some time in July,” Pinkston said. “We now sit here in November and we are still waiting. They expected to have some grants announced by the end of this calendar year.”
Pinkston said they are in constant contact with both the Governor’s Office as well as their legislators.
“I was working with Sen. Duckworth and Sen. Durbin’s office this week on seeing if they might be able to provide some influence at the Governor’s Office,” Pinkston said. “Obviously that is a little touchy, because for the most we are a red county in a blue state. But it is a political process. We are hopeful we will get at least one grant and hopefully more than that.”
The GCEDG hopes to raised $100,000 as their part of the local share for the project. This money, however, would only be due when the project is completed.
“Completed is defined as the point where they are able to connect all the people who are part of the project,” Pinkston said. “So, if you live in the area where the project is at and you call Frontier and ask for the service, they have to be able to give you service to consider the project complete.”
Another requirement which must be fulfilled before the project is considered “completed” is abiding by the Road Use Agreement.
“When we did the permitting process, we looked at the requirements for road use and road impact as well as basic requirements for the installation of fiber,” Pinkston said. “So, they agreed that would be part of what they would comply with. Only when we certify that those requirements have been met would we be obligated to pay that money.”
The project will lay approximately 469 miles of fiber optic cable requiring a capital outlay of almost $34 million. Grant eligible customer locations is about 2,261 locations. However, to get from the wire center, located in Carrollton next to Subway, they have to go right past a bunch of homes, which will add another 74 synergy locations that will have fiber near enough (within 1,800 feet) that they can be served as well).
The cost to bring fiber optic internet to each of these households is approximately $22,000 per house.
Board member Rob Hall asked if the customers within the synergy locations would have to pay to hook on.
“No, they would get the same terms as the other people,” Pinkston said. “The terms are as long as it is less than 1,800 or 2,000 feet from where the fiber goes in there is no charge for them. They will provide a wireless router in your home and a base service of 100 MB up and 100 MB down for $29.99 a month.”
Under the Affordable Connectivity Program, the Federal Government will provide a $30 a month subsidy to households who qualify financially for the program.
“Therefore, a significant portion of Greene County would probably receive free internet,” Pinkston said. “The financial impact to the county would be like $1 million per year that would stay in people’s pockets. So, it would have a big financial impact on a lot of people.”