Council presses DigitalC on how it verifies active users after ARPA-funded citywide buildout

DigitalC — the nonprofit running Cleveland’s ARPA‑funded internet project — told the City Council Utilities Committee on April 30 that it completed the citywide network buildout in less than 18 months and connected 4,850 households in 2025, exceeding the year’s goal of 4,700.

The presentation, delivered by DigitalC CEO Josh (DigitalC), also said the organization met its digital‑skills training target, reporting more than 10,000 residents trained in 2025. DigitalC said its sponsored consumer service is offered at $18 a month while the contract aims to reach 7,100 new household subscriptions in 2026 and 15,000 people trained over the year.

Why it matters: the project is funded from $20 million in ARPA allocations the city set aside for “internet for all.” The contract is performance‑based, meaning DigitalC’s receipt of some payments depends on verified outcomes. Council members said they need clearer, auditable evidence that installations represent new, actively used household broadband connections before the city releases further performance payments.

During a pointed question‑and‑answer session, Councilman Harsh raised whether the city can independently verify how many subscribers are actually using the network each month. DigitalC’s presentation team said it could not provide a raw list of device identifiers and that there are privacy limits on sharing MAC addresses. "Through the chair to the councilman, no. We cannot provide a list of MAC addresses," DigitalC CEO Josh said. The city’s internal audit confirmed its review focused on installations and addresses; it did not independently count active users on the network.

Council members and the audit team said that counting installations by address alone does not distinguish a household that previously had broadband from a genuinely new household connection. Internal Audit described its approach as a year‑end cumulative verification of addresses and said that, because of data volume, a thorough de‑duplication and cross‑check across years was performed at the end of the audit period rather than quarterly.

DigitalC and the audit office agreed to work with the City Law and IT offices over the next two weeks to identify privacy‑preserving, auditable metrics that can show network traffic and active participation (for example, aggregated traffic counts or anonymized active‑device counts). DigitalC’s staff said they are prepared to collaborate and that they trust the numbers submitted; an internal audit representative said they will work to determine which metrics the city can feasibly collect and disclose while protecting user privacy.

What officials said: Councilmember Shah asked about retention and churn; DigitalC reported a churn rate of roughly 1%–1.5%, attributing most losses to people moving outside the service area rather than to service dissatisfaction. DigitalC also said 55% of the connected households are tied to Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) families, a figure council members flagged as important because CMSD provides a concentrated pool of potential subscribers that may reach a saturation point.

Next steps: The committee paused legislative action on performance payments until the administration, internal audit and DigitalC can agree on verification measures. The chair scheduled a follow‑up hearing in roughly two weeks to review audit recommendations and any proposed adjustments to the verification process.

Quotes: "We connected 4,850," DigitalC CEO Josh told the committee, summarizing 2025 results. "We will work with the audit team over the next couple weeks to figure out what information we can provide that really shows network traffic," an internal audit representative said.

Ending: The committee emphasized its support for the objective of citywide affordable internet but said it must have verifiable, auditable measures of usage before releasing further performance funds under the ARPA contract.