Spectrum gives broadband connectivity update in Floyd County

Makenna Hall, The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
·3 min read

Jun. 8—FLOYD COUNTY — Charter Communications, better known as Spectrum, gave the Floyd County Commissioners an update on broadband expansion in the county at Tuesday's meeting.

Over 270 homes in Floyd County have now been serviced by Spectrum as a result of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).

In about a month, 118 more homes are expected to be connected to the service, according to Elizabeth James, the manager of state government affairs in Indiana for Charter Communications.

Through the RDOF, bidders in Indiana were awarded $16.9 million to help connect residents with broadband. Charter Communications received the most of any other service provider in the state from the fund at $5.9 million.

Charter Communications was one of three providers awarded the bids in Floyd County.

More federal funds can soon be expected in the region with a second round of RDOF. James said that the FCC is in the process of creating uniform maps of service availability for the entire country before moving forward with round two.

Indiana's Next Level Connection, through the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA), awarded Charter Communications $429,352 to provide broadband to 66 households in Floyd County. The grant was met with a local match of $252,000.

James said that these 66 addresses are mostly in the Greenville and Floyds Knobs areas and are the hardest to serve because of the difficulty reaching them. The homes and businesses have either no or poor service.

These houses were ones that were not included in the RDOF funding.

Residents or business owners in this area should expect to be connected in less than two years.

"We have a quick turnaround for those 66 addresses: 24 months. Which sounds like a long time but in the industry's world that's pretty quick. Given that we've already activated some parts in of the federal build in the county, we're looking to have this done much quicker than the 24 months," James said.

With the Indiana Connectivity Program, the state plans to connect last mile addresses, or ones that have been left out of the other broadband projects in the area.

Through communication with commissioner John Schellenberger, James said she learned of the need for broadband on West Willis Road.

The company submitted bids to the Indiana Connectivity Program for three addresses on the road, and James said they will find out in a month if they are awarded the bids.

Floyd County did not see any service additions from the first round of the Indiana Connectivity Program that was awarded in April.

James said that they are trying to reach the last bit of Floyd County that is not connected and they are looking for feedback from any residents that have still been left out of connectivity builds.

Addresses of homes and businesses seeking connection can submit their address to the state through OCRA's Next Level Connections online portal which can be found at https://www.in.gov/ocra/broadband/icp/.

While installing the infrastructure to allow houses to connect to broadband is important, James also highlighted the importance of residents being able to afford it.

"We really pride ourselves on helping individuals, students in particular to take up our services. We all know broadband is vital to health, to school, to job searches. So we really want to make that accessible to all demographics and all walks of life," James said.

With the Affordable Connectivity Program, Spectrum offers qualifying customers a set rate for 200 Mbps internet. The program will be available for all customers added from these federal- and state-funded projects.