Washington County backs Brightspeed for state GREAT broadband grant after local provider pitches tower-lease alternative

At its May 2 meeting the Washington County Board of Commissioners voted to back Brightspeed (formerly Lumen/CenturyLink) as the county partner for a state GREAT broadband grant application and directed staff to submit a letter of support.

Commissioner Carol V. Phelps moved to select Brightspeed for the application; Commissioner Julius Walker seconded and the motion carried unanimously. County Manager Curtis Potter said the application deadline was imminent and staff recommended Brightspeed based on the state scoring metrics and the vendoradads ability to provide wired broadband in a wider range of service areas.

Earlier in the meeting Jeremy Collins of Providence Omnistructure, a nonprofit last-mile internet provider born in the local community, urged caution about relying solely on the GREAT grant. "I don't recommend the county going into a GREAT grant—they are not free to the county," Collins said, arguing that his nonprofit could lease space on county vertical assets, such as water towers, and deploy supplemental towers to reach Creswell, Pea Ridge and other underserved areas with a target user price of about $50 per month. He asked the county to consider leasing vertical assets and to support local providers sharing infrastructure.

Richard Livingston, who has been working on the grant application, told commissioners that partnerships with counties and multiple applications can increase scoring; Potter said a letter of support from the board needed to accompany the grant packet. Commissioners discussed the tradeoffs between a large incumbent provider offering wired service and smaller local providers proposing wireless or tower-based last-mile work.

Next steps: Staff will submit the county's letter of support with the Brightspeed partnership proposal to the state by the application deadline noted by the manager.