County broadband manager: 8,000 previously unserved homes reached; BEAD uncertainty and affordability concerns remain

Chris Schar, Washtenaw County’s broadband project manager, told commissioners the county-wide broadband tracker now shows substantial progress toward connecting previously unserved parcels across the county and highlighted remaining technical and funding issues.

Schar said the county’s mapping tracks 135,000 parcels; about 8,000 homes that previously lacked broadband access have been served during the program. Washington Fiber Properties has completed its small build; Midwest Energy Cooperative (MEC) has passed approximately 4,400 homes and is about 90% complete in its ARPA-funded build, Schar said. MEC crews are continuing activations in areas where construction is complete but final power/cabinet hookups remain. Charter and Comcast are building in franchise areas; Comcast is about 70% complete on its ARPA scope, while some Charter work is active in Webster, Dexter and Northfield townships.

Schar discussed Mercury Broadband, which won large RDOF awards and later defaulted on much of its state commitments; Mercury’s defaults returned tens of thousands of locations to federal oversight and left some Washtenaw parcels to be considered for BEAD funding. Schar said Mercury presently has roughly 280 active addresses in Washtenaw County but had rescinded or defaulted on a large portion of its awards statewide. Those returned parcels are in line to be considered for the BEAD program (a federal/state broadband funding program), but Schar cautioned that BEAD’s timing and terms are not fully settled.

Commissioners pressed Schar on affordability and rate regulation. Commissioner Scott and others said affordability for the “missing middle” remains a major concern now that infrastructure is being installed. Schar said ACP (Affordable Connectivity Program) vouchers had been helpful but were ended by the federal government in late 2023; he described three policy priorities for the county going forward: access (buildout), affordability, and digital adaptability (training and digital literacy). He warned that BEAD application reviewers have been resistant to explicit rate-regulation language in applications; Schar said current federal guidance has discouraged rate mandates within BEAD proposals.

Schar offered unit-cost context: he said MEC’s construction cost per home-passed regionally ranges from about $6,000 to $10,000 per home, and that MEC’s retail service there is approximately $65 per month for a symmetrical 100 Mbps plan. He noted MEC’s model as an electric cooperative offering fiber to its membership, stressing long payback periods for providers.

On timing, Schar said most ARPA-funded builds should be completed in the next several months and projected the county program could be substantially complete by summer 2025 — ahead of prior RDOF deadlines that extended into 2026 — while cautioning that parcels left to BEAD remain dependent on federal program timing and rules.

Several commissioners praised Schar’s outreach and field verification process and asked staff to continue monitoring provider invoicing and build validation. Commissioners also discussed municipal models (Linden Township’s municipal bond/assessment model and ACDNet operations) and whether public investment should lead to public ownership or affordability mechanisms; Schar and the board discussed that federal/state BEAD guidance is limiting local options for rate mandates in grant terms.