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Brightspeed says two outages traced to long-haul equipment and contractor fiber cut; company pitches $15M submarine loop grant
Summary
Brightspeed told the Dare County board that two outages in July — a July 5 long‑haul equipment failure and a July 28 contractor fiber cut — interrupted service countywide; the company described mitigation steps, planned network upgrades and said a proposed submarine cable closing the Outer Banks fiber loop could cost about $15 million and would reduce future outages.
Brightspeed representatives told the Dare County Board of Commissioners that two separate outages in July left large parts of the Outer Banks without communications and that the company is pursuing technical and funding steps to reduce the chance of future interruptions. "We understand that reliable communication service is not a convenience, it's essential infrastructure," said Steve Brewer, Brightspeed director of governmental affairs.
Brewer said the first failure on July 5 was traced to equipment in the long‑haul transport network run by a third‑party provider; service was restored after traffic migrated to alternative equipment and customers were largely restored by July 7 at approximately 7:50 p.m. A separate July 28 outage was caused by a contractor cutting a fiber and lasted about nine hours in affected areas. "While the physical fiber itself remained intact, the equipment responsible for directing traffic across the network failed," Brewer said, describing both the cause of the July 5 event and the subsequent restoration steps.
In response to questions from commissioners and residents, Brightspeed described damage claims and billing procedures when excavators cut fiber and said the company files claims and may recover technician and repair costs from responsible contractors. The company acknowledged residents' complaints about customer service delays and said local repair supervisors and 12 field technicians are available in the county to respond to cuts.
Brewer also described a larger redundancy project that broadband advocates and county officials have discussed for years: a submarine cable that would close a fiber loop from Ocracoke to the mainland, enabling traffic to be rerouted if a transport segment is cut. He estimated the loop's cost at roughly $15,000,000 and said the project is being pursued through an application process administered by the North Carolina Department of Information Technology and potentially through federal review. "When that happens, so if that transport fiber were cut somewhere along the Outer Banks today, anything south of that cut becomes isolated," Brewer said. "If the loop is closed, you just simply reroute the traffic along the loop."
County officials asked how quickly the loop could be built if funded; Brewer said permitting and engineering could make it a multi‑year effort, likely at least two to three years if awarded and permitted. Commissioners also asked whether the state funding set aside in the 2026 budget effectively guarantees the project; Brightspeed said funds are appropriated but program rules and federal sign‑off may still be required before awards are made.
