Rockville council approves South Central Broadband franchise and adopting ordinance to bring fiber service

The Rockville Town Council on Dec. 10 unanimously approved a franchise agreement with South Central Communications, doing business as South Central Broadband, and adopted Ordinance 2025-12-10-1 to authorize the company’s use of the town’s public right-of-way.

The agreement, presented by Terrence Mitchell of South Central, lays out a company-funded build of fiber to Town Hall, the meeting hall and throughout the community. Mitchell said the company has already spliced fiber on Bridal and expects to schedule physical installation before the end of the year, with broader construction and customer installs beginning early 2026 if paperwork is completed. "We do the entire project, throughout the town for no cost to the town," Mitchell said.

Why it matters: the ordinance gives the company the municipal authorization it needs to operate in town and participate in related state fund flows. Council members said the franchise allows the town to gain fiber infrastructure without a direct capital outlay. The council moved the matter by motion and adopted the ordinance by roll-call vote; all members present voted in favor.

Key terms: Mitchell told the council that the company’s model is to build the network at no cost to the town and to waive residential installation fees for customers who sign up during the build window. He said promotional pricing will reduce the first year of service for a 1 Gbps plan from $65 to $45 per month; service will increase to $65 per month in year two, and higher tiers (up to 8 Gbps) will be available. On construction risks, Mitchell acknowledged crews can encounter buried utilities and said South Central provides a single point of contact during construction and will remediate damage: "You reach out to me, you say, Terrence, it looks like this and this happened...Research it, and we're local, and we take care of it."

Procedural notes and next steps: Council member Michael made the motion to approve the franchise agreement; the motion carried on a roll-call vote with all present voting "I." The ordinance (2025-12-10-1) was adopted by the same unanimous vote. Town staff will finalize paperwork with the company; Mitchell said the company will return signed copies once its CEO signs and scheduled a splicing operation for the coming Friday.

The council did not attach additional conditions to the franchise in the public discussion; the agreement had been exchanged with town legal counsel prior to the meeting and modified as part of that review. The company and town will exchange final signed documents and proceed with scheduling construction.