Point Broadband announced that it installed services for its 1,000th customer in Leelanau County in late August. This marks a big milestone in their goal of reaching 96% of the 3,522 “unserved parcels/addresses” in the county by the end of the year – they may not all opt to sign up, but the goal is giving them the option for network connectivity.
But as a Leelanau Internet Futures Team (LIFT) update says, the work is not done. As of July, Point Broadband completed cabinet 10 in the central part of the county, which includes Lake Leelanau.
Also slated for completion in the third quarter of the year are cabinets 13 and 14, which include Omena and its surroundings, excluding Peshawbestown, and north and northeast of Northport, so the company can meet its goal of reaching the Grand Traverse Lighthouse by the end of the year.
Spanning a larger and more populated area are cabinets 1, 2, 7, and 11, which cover most of Suttons Bay and Bingham. These are also expected to be completed by Dec. 31 or Point Broadband will forfeit its $3.2 million performance bond with the county. The remaining 4% of unserved homes, located in Elmwood and Bingham townships, will be reached by the end of August 2025.
“They’re having a lot of success with the installs. They’re getting in just under 100 new orders a week right now. They’re keeping up with it, but they are pushing themselves to do that. That’s more than they expected,” said Chris Scharrer, the county’s consultant on the project, in July. “But for the most part, they are on target for meeting their obligations this year.”
Meanwhile, in Cleveland, Glen Arbor, Empire, and Kasson townships, Charter Spectrum celebrated the completion of a smaller fiber network buildout in August. This brought all Spectrum products, including gigabit broadband, to an additional 660 homes and businesses on the other end of the county previously “unserved or underserved,” according to the LIFT update.
Spectrum celebrated the buildout with an event that was attended by both state and local public officials including state Representative Betsy Coffia, County Commissioner Gwenne Allgaier, and Cleveland Township Supervisor Tim Stein.
Allgaier emphasized the importance of this project by stating that 25% of Glen Lake Public Schools students did not have internet access at home during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Spectrum had been working on its own broadband expansion in Leelanau County since 2020, partially funded by a $1 million federal grant through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.
The LIFT update says that approximately 200 properties in the four southwestern townships will remain without internet connectivity once the Point Broadband project is completed in mid-2025, however, even with Spectrum’s separate buildout. The county is currently exploring other options for funding work in these areas.
One of the opportunities is the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. Starting next year, BEAD will grant $1.6 billion for connecting more of the unserved and underserved population. Leelanau County may apply for BEAD grants to reach the 200 remaining properties, according to the LIFT update, but grant monies will be rewarded on a competitive basis.
