A Marion County Board subcommittee formed to look at getting fiber optic internet service to rural areas of the county met for the first time Wednesday.
The Chief Operating Officer of Wabash Communications David Frigen explained what needed to happen to expand service to rural areas.
“Absolutely apply for grants. It’s all about getting the money for going to rural because of the lack of density.”
Frigen says the county can play a role by hiring a consultant who can complete applications for various grant dollars available to bring fiber optic internet to underserved rural areas. In order to have an effective application, information would also need to be obtained to determine the numbers who would sign up for the service if it is available. Frigen says the application process is costly, sometimes in the neighborhood of $50,000.
Frigen noted without state or federal grant dollars that could pay for 50 to 90-percent of a build-out, serving many rural areas of Marion County is not financially possible.
“The more density that there is, the quicker the payback for the provider who is putting that in. The reason there is no fiber in the rural today is because there is a lack of payback. Sometimes 30-40 years payback.”
Frigen says in more populated areas payback is in four or five years which allow for additional projects to be completed more quickly.
The Chair of the new sub-committee Brock Waggoner noted the importance fiber optics will play in the future of agriculture and new computerization of farm equipment. Waggoner agreed to see if any other cable companies would be interested in working with the county before locking in with Wabash Communications.
The sub-committee seemed receptive to the idea of becoming financially involved by hiring a consultant. The full county board will be briefed on the first meeting of the sub-committee at its next meeting.
Meanwhile, Frigen reported work is now complete on an extension of fiber optics to the Kell, Field, and northeastern Jefferson County area. Work is nearing completion on turning on service to an area south of Salem. Frigen also said the rebuild of the Salem system acquired from US Sonet is also nearing completion and an upgrade and further build out of the system in Sandoval and Odin is in the works.
