Design, engineering work nearly complete on county broadband project

COLUMBUS, Ind. — Final design and engineering work is nearly complete on what will become the largest broadband internet provider in rural Bartholomew County. 

Official announcements are expected soon regarding efforts to bridge the county’s rural digital divide, according to Bartholomew County Commissioners Chairman Tony London, who also chairs the Bartholomew County Broadband Initiative Committee. 

“I anticipate construction will begin very, very soon,” London said. “I can’t be more specific because so many things are still up in the air.” 

For example, London said the provider is still working with Bartholomew County REMC to determine which utility poles need to be upgraded to hold the fiber-optic lines. 

But London said he believes the companies will be making their own announcements in the coming weeks. 

Last year, the commissioner estimated it will take about two-and-a-half years to complete the installation of fiber-optic lines to 11,845 homes in remote locations. 

Last April, the commissioners chose Meridiam Infrastructure North America Corp. to oversee the broadband expansion to more than 10,000 homes and businesses in under-served areas of Bartholomew County. The contract requires Meridiam to provide a service level of 1,000 megabits per second, also known as gig speed. 

A wholly owned subsidiary of Meridiam, Hoosier Fiber Network, will be the owner of the infrastructure after the parent company agreed to invest about $33 million into the project. While it was earlier announced a Brown County company would handle the actual construction, London said that firm has taken itself out of consideration. 

Bartholomew County government is investing $4 million from its federal American Rescue Plan allotment for the Meridiam project. While millions of dollars more is being contributed with money from Indiana’s Next Level Connections Broadband Grant Program, those state funds will go to a variety of companies for projects separate from the Meridiam project, London said. 

The $4 million from Bartholomew County is being utilized to extend service to extremely remote homes where it’s not financially viable for a private firm to do it themselves, the commissioner said. 

This week, Comcast announced it has signed contracts with Indiana’s Office of Community & Rural Affairs (OCRA) to bring gigabit-capable broadband service to unserved parts of 19 Indiana counties, including Bartholomew. 

While London emphasized he is grateful to Comcast for contributing to county broadband expansion, he said the development will only have an small impact in northern Bartholomew County. 

For more on this story, see Thursday’s Republic.