County looks to provide high-speed fiber internet to whole county

BRANCH COUNTY — County commissioners invited Frontier Northern communication executives back on April 18 to discuss holes in the countywide service internet plan.

In a March presentation, Frontier service maps showed significant areas of Sherwood, Butler, Gilead, and Noble townships not receiving Frontier fiber service under the $22.4 million state Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks grant awarded last June.

Branch County contributed another $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act money for the project as part of the grant.

According to Reading-based DMCI Broadband managing partner David Cleveland, his company plans to cover some of those areas and could serve homes not in the Frontier plan, he said in a Monday interview.

"We are planning to serve some of those areas. We are interested in Butler and Gilead," Cleveland said. "We are already close to Sherwood."

DMCI is now installing fiber in Matteson Township, west of Matteson Lake Road.

Cleveland expects to begin connections by June along the 24.5 miles of fiber to 446 homes and businesses.

Cleveland said that area could expand. "People were reaching out and asking when will you come here."

Cleveland said construction was slowed by Miss Dig locating other utility lines for DMCI boring machines to install conduit.

DMCI will begin a fiber line south out of Bronson to Gilead Lake to serve some of Noble and Gilead townships. May 1 is his target date to begin work on that system.

Cleveland said the new areas are part of a USDA Re-Connet grant DMCI will file next month.

The company received USDA grants for other services in Branch and Hillsdale counties.

Branch County Clerk Terry Kubasiak was concerned that the areas the Frontier service map excluded could leave township clerks in Butler, Gilead, Noble, and Sherwood townships without the high-speed fiber service needed for voter and election processing.

Frontier's proposal stated, "Frontier is committed to making fiber services available in Branch County... and extending our network to areas of the County where Michiganders have little to no broadband access today."

Frontier said the state excluded areas outside the ROBIN grant.

The Federal Communication Commission maps indicated that the areas left out of Frontier coverage were already served by WOW and Mercury Communications, but according to residents living in those areas, service is not available to everyone.

Prior story Branch County receives $22.4 million grant for rural fiber internet

During the COVID-19 pandemic, local surveys found that about 35% of Branch County homes and businesses needed more internet speeds and services for educational and business purposes.

The county set a goal of providing high-speed fiber internet connections across the county by 2026.

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During the bid process in 2023, county administrator Bud Norman said that 20% to 25% of the population did not have fiber connections.

Most providers now consider the 1-gigabyte service as the standard.

-- Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Branch County looks to provide high-speed fiber internet to whole county