Patrick County approves Brightspeed BEAD support after residents complain of outages

The Patrick County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a letter of support for Brightspeed’s application to the federal BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment) program after an extended public-comment period in which multiple residents described recurring landline and Internet outages.

The decision matters because Brightspeed told the board it would seek BEAD funds to build fiber to roughly 3,000 addresses in the county and to offer a 2-gigabit symmetrical service at a proposed $99 monthly price; company representatives said the project would cover 621 BEAD-eligible locations and that Brightspeed would fund buildout for an additional roughly 2,320 addresses not eligible for BEAD. Several residents said current copper infrastructure fails to meet basic safety needs, including emergency-calling reliability.

Public commenters described repeated, lengthy outages on landline service that in one case forced a resident’s family member to drive a mile to summon emergency help when phone service failed. Regina Wood said firefighters and rescue crews were delayed because landlines and local cellular service were unreliable; Jamie Clark described an elderly relative whose pacemaker monitoring had to be converted to a cellular device after repeated landline outages. Those and other speakers urged the county to press regulators and the company for faster repairs before approving new construction.

Chris Dillon, Brightspeed regional representative, acknowledged recent service disruptions in the region and described steps Brightspeed said it is taking: a nationwide transition off copper toward fiber; a fixed-wireless interim option (in partnership with a wireless carrier) for customers on the last-mile copper loops; and operational commitments to reduce trouble-ticket resolution times to a target of 48 hours. Dillon said Brightspeed completed performance improvements that led state regulators to lift prior oversight conditions in December 2023 and invited county officials to share customer accounts directly with company staff so specific outages can be investigated.

In discussion before the vote, supervisors debated whether Brightspeed’s current maintenance record warranted a letter of support. Supervisor Steve Marshall and another supervisor voted in favor; Supervisor Clayton Kendrick and the board chair (name not specified in the public record) registered opposition during roll call; one supervisor’s roll-call response was not vocalized on the transcript. The motion passed by majority vote.

Brightspeed representatives told the board that BEAD applications are due March 1 and that the company will take the lead on applications and project management if the county provides a local letter of support. The company also said the fixed-wireless interim solution requires reliable cellular coverage and cautioned it would not be a universal substitute in the county’s most remote, mountainous areas.

The board’s letter of support does not obligate the county to provide funding; Brightspeed said ISPs are the applicants and grantees under the BEAD rules and that local government support increases an application’s competitiveness. Residents present asked the board to require clearer company timelines for restoration work before any future vote on county cooperation or additional support.

The county clerk’s office said residents who want the county to follow up should submit specific outage reports and contact information so staff can forward them to Brightspeed for investigation. The transcript of the meeting records multiple public-comment statements on Brightspeed service and the company’s presentation to the board.