Charter Spectrum announced earlier this month that their fiber optic network build-out in Leelanau County has been completed, making their internet, mobile, TV, and voice services available to an additional 180 homes and businesses. These previously unserved or underserved addresses are in Cleveland, Kasson, and Solon townships.
Spectrum has been working on its own broadband expansion in Leelanau County since 2020, when the federal government awarded just under $1 million to them through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).
According to a Spectrum press release, this is part of an approximately $5 billion investment in unserved rural communities throughout the country, partially offset by $1.2 billion from RDOF auctions.
“Broadband service can no longer be considered a luxury, especially in incredibly remote areas like northern Michigan,” State Senator John Damoose is quoted in the press release. “Spectrum’s latest expansion is delivering high-speed connectivity and internet services to Leelanau County and this type of infrastructure investment in rural Michigan is a boon for our small, rural communities.”
Cleveland, Kasson, and Solon township residents and businesses owners can visit spectrumruralexpansion. com to learn whether their home or business can now receive Spectrum services.
This project should not be confused with the larger-scale push by Point Broadband to bring high-speed Internet to unserved addresses throughout the county, which aims to reach 3,400 unserved addresses by the end of this year. Point Broadband’s project is funded by Leelanau County, mostly through American Rescue Plan Act dollars.
The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners recently approved a revised agreement with Point Broadband guaranteeing that they will bring services to 96% of 3,522 “unserved parcels/addresses” by Dec. 31, seeking to prevent further delays as the project was initially planned to be completed by the end of 2023.
The Leelanau Peninsula Economic Foundation and Leelanau Internet Futures Team released an update late last month stating that Point Broadband’s progress has been hampered in part by an inability to obtain easement approvals for private roads and homeowners’ associations (HOAs).
And with nearly 50 private roads between Suttons Bay and the end point at the Grand Traverse Lighthouse, this could be a barrier to project completion, the update says.
“Residents who may be caught in one of these situations are encouraged to become proactive advocates on the road or in an association’s community to remove potential obstacles to the arrival of fiber to the neighborhood,” the update says.
The update also states that construction crews will bypass areas if they cannot gain timely access to private roads or HOA properties. This can mean not only delayed service starts, but increased connection fees.
Questions about easements needed for the Point Broadband project should be directed to Point Broadband project coordinator Trenton Doolittle at trenton. doolittle@point-broadband. com.
