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Indiana County Mulls Extension of Fiber Network to Residents

The residential pilot in Elkhart County is aimed at being a new step toward providing better access to high-speed Internet to local rural residents, home businesses and small businesses.

(TNS) — Elkhart County is set to test a plan to begin extending fiber optic lines to homes so they can access broadband Internet service.

The county commissioners approved a resolution Monday that sets a pricing model for what’s been deemed a Fiber to the Home pilot project.

The county owns and maintains a network of dark fiber optic lines capable of delivering high-speed Internet services to customers through providers. With the network connected to data hubs in South Bend, companies have been able to lease lines from the county for their uses — either as a service provider to supply Internet services, or as a private business to receive Internet services. Local government offices have also been utilizing the network.

Amid progress from establishing the network for commercial uses, the residential pilot is aimed at being a new step toward providing better access to high-speed Internet to local rural residents, home businesses and small businesses.

“We’re trying to figure out a way to get this to rural residential areas; better quality service,” Commissioner Mike Yoder said. “We right now have a world-class broadband network in Elkhart County. Elkhart County owns that, so how do we build upon that?”

Commissioner Suzanne Weirick saw the plan as important for the county’s future prosperity.

“I think it’s one of the shifts hopefully that we’re going to continue to recognize is that residential development is economic development. We’re recognizing our residences as a primary economic booster,” Weirick said.

The COVID-19 pandemic increased the need for hooking homes up to the network as more people work from homes. Weirick said people have moved out of larger cities to this area while working remotely.

“At the same time, with COVID, there’s a priority of fiber to the home in some of the underserved and rural areas,” she said.

The commissioners indicated the county is using the network to fill an infrastructure need where private service providers have not tread due likely to cost/benefit decisions.

Yoder and Weirick indicated the pilot project will be expensive in order to extend fiber lines to individual homes across wide rural spaces. Yoder said the county will seek grants and possible COVID-related money to help subsidize costs.

Homeowners would pay to have fiber access installed and a fee to lease it on top of the fee to subscribe for Internet service through service providers. Monday’s resolution includes an initial pricing model that sets a circuit lease at $20 a month. As the project progresses, Weirick said the county is still looking at costs in running fiber to homes, pricing structures and different opportunities to connect to the network. She noted the goal is to tie all the costs for customers into one bill. Pricing model changes would have to become part of the new ordinance.

“Hopefully, as we continue to progress, we’ll have more and more interest from a homeowner’s standpoint or a small business owner’s standpoint, as well as a provider’s standpoint so we can really have some great offerings and great price structures for everybody. And just keep building on what everybody says they really, really need,” Weirick said.

Yoder said a county employee has been talking to homeowners to gauge interest in who would sign up for the residential program.

“I’m expecting high level of interest. And this will help us create a pricing model and kind of a cost model,” Yoder said.

The new program stems from the county’s initial project to extend the fiber infrastructure, primarily in the northern half of the county, to manufacturers and businesses. The extension of fiber into Middlebury helped drive the residential pilot, Yoder said.

©2020 the Goshen News, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.