By Glenn Rolfe

GEORGETOWN — Home to its 1-2 economic punch, agriculture and tourism, Sussex County is not as conducive to broadband connectivity and accessibility.

Flat terrain, towering tree lines and remote “deserts” pose logistical and financial challenges, predominantly inland in rural, sparsely populated areas.

“Broadband has been a big issue within not only Sussex County but all over the United States,” said Sussex County information technology director Dwayne Kilgo in a recent broadband update presentation to Greater Georgetown Chamber of Commerce. “Mainly in Sussex County because we are so spread out. We’re not a metropolitan area. We’re more rural. We have a lot of trees. Our terrain is flat. We have those challenges.”

The idea that fiber/broadband/internet can be installed easily throughout Sussex is a misconception, Mr. Kilgo said. It is estimated the tab to extend internet service to every nook, cranny and corner of Sussex County would run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, for which there might never be an equitable return on investment.

Sen. Brian Pettyjohn, R-Georgetown, said federal funding contained in the latest COVID relief package coming Delaware’s way may help clear some of those isolation hurdles. Twenty million dollars in the American Rescue Plan is earmarked for broadband expansion, he said.

“The state is working with a number of partners (including wireless providers Verizon and Comcast) to expand their service area outward from where their existing footprint is,” Sen. Pettyjohn said. “Some of the federal money is going to be used to assist in some of the areas that are very near or adjacent to where those providers already have service, to help those businesses and those residential properties get access to the wired broadband.

“That is why we have historically had a problem with private industry coming in and doing it on their own without any type of government subsidies,” Sen. Pettyjohn said. “You add the government subsidies and it makes their bottom line, their perform outlook a whole lot better … when they are looking to bring service into some of these more remote areas here in Sussex County.”

In Sussex County, multiple initiatives are in play, based on factors that include expense, density, need/demand and signal availability. At present it’s a three-pronged approach: monopole installation at designated Delaware Electric Cooperative substations, monopole placement on private property and expansion of the Georgetown Fiber Ring.

In 2016, Delaware Electric Cooperative and Lightower Fiber Networks partnered to construct a 250-mile, all fiber network connecting DEC’s substations to its headquarters in Greenwood. In addition to enhancing service to Co-op members, broadband providers have the option to purchase additional fiber lines owned by Lightower, which could expand fast, affordable broadband service to rural Delaware.

Thus far in partnership with DEC, the county has installed one monopole — towering about 90 feet above ground — at DEC’s Workman Substation near the Trap Pond area east of rural Laurel and Gumboro.

“We’re looking at the best options, the best bang for our bucks — the substations that we can get the most people connected. It contributes to our issues with being able to provide services to some of our constituents,” Mr. Kilgo said.

In its private property venture, the county has installed one vertical asset on property in rural Laurel.

“That one has been the most requested to be connected. There are probably about 30 to 40 homes around that location that did not have any type of broadband,” Mr. Kilgo said. “We have customers going on those monopoles each day.”

Included among desert areas identified by the county are rural sections between Millsboro, Laurel and Gumboro.

For future monopole placement, the county plans to seek more private property owners and continue working with DEC. The county is also looking to place monopoles in county-owned properties “where we can benefit our constituents and provide broadband in those desert areas,” said Mr. Kilgo.

The county has purchased monopoles from the Town of Lewes, which Mr. Kilgo labeled “a great deal.” The county is also working with “our partners, like Comcast, Mediacom to see if they can expand their infrastructures to some of these desert areas,” Mr. Kilgo said.

Total cost to install monopoles can range from $14,000 to $80,000. Aerial tower height can be 85 to 300 feet and taller towers obviously provide greater signal reach. Water near the surface can cause installation issues, as monopoles may need to be buried upward of 19 feet.

Also, installation of aerial assets must meet hurricane force guidelines, Mr. Kilgo said.

“When you have hundreds of years of tree line that are 70 to 80 feet tall it is a challenge. It is very costly,” Mr. Kilgo said. “We’re learning a lot.”

Meanwhile the state is continuing its partnership with Bloosurf to offer wireless broadband service in both Kent and Sussex counties.

“Many towers are up. They are actually doing some upgrades because of the sooner-than-expected demand,” said Sen. Pettyjohn of the Bloosurf initiative. “This was a project that was put in place prior to COVID. COVID really ramped up the schedule, increased the number of people that were subscribed. A number of towers ended up getting oversubscribed.”

Funding has been included in recent Sussex County budgets. However, sometimes the money was not spent in that fiscal year.

In the FY2020 budget, $2 million was budgeted for capital and $96,000 for operation while a total of $534,000 was spent. The bulk of that was for the purchase of the Georgetown Fiber Ring.

“Sussex County spent $500,000 in 2020 buying the Georgetown Fiber Ring because Broad Valley was going out of business. Because we were one of the customers on that fiber ring, we didn’t want to let that happen,” said Mr. Kilgo. “There are other two businesses in Georgetown that were also customers on that fiber ring. We didn’t want to see anyone lose service.”

The Georgetown Fiber Ring purchase was a smart deal, Mr. Kilgo says.

“We had grown accustomed to depending on that ring. We were paying $8,500 a month lease for the fibers that we were using on that ring to connect our facilities. If Broad Valley had gone out of business (before the sale) it would shut us down to an extent. We would not be able to communicate between our facilities because the fiber would be dark, and we could light it … it wouldn’t be ours,” Mr. Kilgo said.

Negotiations encompassed several years. Broad Valley’s initial asking price was $1.6 million.

“It took three years to negotiate all the way down to the $500,000, and that is a wash. We would have paid that money over five years anyway. Now, we own it — 144 strands,” Mr. Kilgo said.

The Georgetown Fiber Ring has the capability of expanding in any direction.

White space

Another solution, particularly in isolated areas, could be “white space.”

Since the 2009 nationwide switch to digital television, the Federal Communications Commission has gradually lifted restrictions, allowing companies to test whether broadband can be achieved with open frequencies known as “white space” in rural communities without interfering with other signals.

“White space has been talked about in many places. But white space has a limit of 17 to 20 Megs (megabits). The federal government deems broadband as being 25 megs or more but to the average person that doesn’t have anything, a 17-meg download is better than nothing,” Mr. Kilgo said. “It may not be considered broadband but it’s something. You still could stream a television show or whatever off 17 megs.”

Internet interest?

Another piece to the connectivity puzzle is that some people are not necessarily interested or cannot afford it.

There are people that “feel like they still don’t need the internet. It’s usually the older population. So it’s a challenge because it takes a lot of lure vendors in this area,” said Mr. Kilgo.

Expanding broadband availability in Sussex County is a work in progress.

“COVID has slowed us down but we’re moving forward,” Mr. Kilgo said. “I think what we’ve done with these monopoles is going to be a huge help.”

Good stewards

The county’s mission, Mr. Kilgo says, is to be good stewards of constituent money.

“We’re not going out here wasting taxpayer dollars on just coming up with ideas and putting money in to just throw something up to see if it works,” said Mr. Kilgo. “I’m going to take my time, looking to see what other organizations, countries, governments are doing and what has worked and what has failed.”

The county is working with several vendors and utilizing an application through Google that can provide contours and tree height.

“We can create models of whether a certain signal will penetrate through those trees and everything else. It takes time. We want to make sure we do this right,” Mr. Kilgo said. “That’s why it seems people are probably frustrated, but we are moving every day. I’m meeting with vendors every day to try to ensure that we are doing the right stuff and putting up the right stuff and planning the right stuff.”

Applause from SEDAC

Joe Conaway, Sussex Economic Development Action Committee president, applauded the county’s efforts during Mr. Kilgo’s presentation.

“Sussex County Council has been very supportive of those efforts. You’ve spent your money wisely. We look forward to improvements,” Mr. Conaway said. “Having said all that, who has the best broadband service in the nation today? Would you say Wilmington, Delaware? We always will have to worry about the last mile. That is where the problem comes. SEDAC supports the efforts.

“The county, they have no responsibility to do this. But the county has stepped up and is providing these efforts to make this happen.”