Spencer County wins state broadband grant to reach 1,261 homes, Charter to invest $3.78 million

Spencer County officials and a Charter Communications representative told Fiscal Court on July 6 that the county has been awarded a state broadband grant to extend high-speed service to 1,261 addresses.

Benjamin M. U'sellis of Charter Communications told the court the project would run roughly 158.2 miles of fiber and that the total project cost is $6,830,966. Charter plans to invest $3,783,000, the state grant award is $2,557,686, and Spencer County would contribute $490,280, according to numbers provided to the court.

"Our state grant broadband project has been awarded! That means we will soon begin the process of building out broadband to more than 1,200 additional homes in Spencer County," U'sellis wrote in an email summarizing the award and presented to the court.

Judge Executive John Riley said Charter had been invited to the July 6 meeting to explain project details and answer local questions. U'sellis said the state is standing up an Office of Broadband Technology and that Charter and county officials are coordinating on mapping to identify the addresses included in the initial deployment; he directed court members to a website showing which addresses are in the first 1,261-home phase.

Why it matters: expanding fiber broadband will change internet access for the named addresses and could affect economic development and remote-work or education options in the county. Charter and the county did not present a construction schedule or a final contract at the meeting; U'sellis said more details would follow as mapping and planning continue.

Next steps and outstanding details: county officials and the Charter representative said mapping remains under way and the list of initially served addresses is available online; no final construction timeline or financing agreement requiring a court vote was presented at the July 6 meeting.