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Empower and River Street report expanded fiber service in Charlotte County; take rates and pricing discussed
Summary
Two broadband providers gave progress reports to the Charlotte County Board of Supervisors: Empower described 472 awarded addresses in the county and a roughly 76% take rate in active zones; River Street described 4,492 passings countywide and new pricing tiers. Supervisors asked about sidewalks, cabinet work, and local sign-up events.
Representatives of two fiber broadband providers updated the Charlotte County Board of Supervisors on network progress, customer take rates and pricing, and community outreach to enroll residents.
Empower representative Mr. Lipscomb said the company’s state-grant-funded work spans multiple counties and that Empower was awarded 23,195 addresses across the regional program, of which 472 addresses lie in Charlotte County. He told the board that 379 addresses in Charlotte County are in areas the company has marked “open for service” on its availability checker and that 288 locations are active customers — a take rate Empower presented as about 76% of eligible addresses in those zones. “There are 288 active locations in that area… that’s a 75.99% — 76% — take rate of those folks who are eligible for it,” Lipscomb said.
Lipscomb described network build steps (mainline installation, splicing, drops, customer installs), social-media updates and address lookup tools, and said Empower has installed “just over a hundred miles” of fiber in the county portion of the project and more than 7,000 accounts across the broader Southside region.
River Street representative Ralph Taylor described construction and marketing metrics for his company. He told the board River Street currently passes roughly 4,492 addresses in the county, has installed about 466 miles of fiber (an increase of about 78 miles since November), and is in the process of hooking up about 236 locations. Taylor said River Street is conducting address lookups, mailings and sign-up days; he listed several recent and planned events at the Phoenix municipal building and the Charlotte courthouse and encouraged residents to register interest at the company website.
Taylor also presented new pricing tiers. He described three packages: a low-income package at $65 with symmetrical 100/100 Mbps service, a 500/500 Mbps package at $85, and a 1 Gbps symmetrical package at $110. He said customers who signed up earlier at higher announced prices could call customer service to receive the new pricing or applicable discounts; supervisors asked staff to make printed pricing sheets available at public sign-up events.
Board members raised construction and sidewalk restoration questions. Residents asked about sidewalk repairs where cabinets and handholes were installed; River Street said crews will level sites and schedule professional concrete crews to complete sidewalks when weather permits. Several attendees praised providers for bringing service to nearby homes that were not initially in a specific grant footprint.
Why it matters: Expanded fiber availability can affect economic opportunities, telework options and public services for rural residents. The board discussed outreach to unserved addresses, local sign-up events, and monitoring of construction impacts such as sidewalk repairs and cabinet siting.
The board took no regulatory action on broadband at this meeting; representatives said they would provide marketing materials and continue sign-up events.
