Sussex County, DE officials announced they have developed an incentive program that has attracted four wireless internet service providers who are poised to begin offering high-speed access to customers, particularly those in traditionally underserved, rural pockets of the county. Providers will supply their own equipment and independently market themselves to customers, while the County will provide space or pay for rental costs for up to two years on a mix of County and State of Delaware-owned towers.
BridgeMaxx, Bloosurf, Nuvisions/Broad Valley, and Delmarva VoIP/Conxx, have submitted qualifying proposals to the County to provide high-speed access ranging from download speeds of 2 megabits to 100 megabits per second. The providers will broadcast signals to customers.
“Here, we saw a real need within our community and had a unique opportunity to work with the State and providers not to create a new government service, but to be a facilitator that can help draw in the private sector to satisfy consumer needs,” said County Administrator Todd F. Lawson. “We are proud of this new incentive program and what it represents, which is to make broadband internet available no matter where you are in Sussex County.”
In 2017, Sussex County Council set aside in its annual budget, $1 million, collected through the County’s share of Delaware’s realty transfer tax, to upgrade wireless communications infrastructure, in part to facilitate the expansion of high-speed internet access across the county. In addition to that, the County has been for more than a year, working with officials at the State level to discuss ideas for expanding broadband internet in the region.
One option, according to a statement released by the county, is the new County incentive program. Under the plan, the County will subsidize the cost of renting space on two State-owned communications towers for up to two years; after that, providers whose equipment remains on those towers, would have to bear the rental costs themselves, said Dwayne Kilgo, the County’s Information Technology director. Meantime, the County will make space available on approximately a dozen towers it owns, giving providers the infrastructure to build a network array that serves a wider geographic area.
Some of the areas that will be targeted initially are in and around Bridgeville, Dagsboro, Georgetown, Greenwood, Gumboro, Laurel, Lincoln, Long Neck, Roxana, and Seaford. As providers expand their networks and enroll more subscribers, other areas of the county would join the list of internet-served communities, Mr. Kilgo said.
May 21, 2018
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