By Betsy Finklea
Joe Prater, Charter Government Affairs, updated the Dillon County Council on the Spectrum broadband project at their December meeting.
Prater said he was sure they had seen a number of Spectrum trucks in the area recently.
He showed a general map of the Dillon County project. He said when they complete this project about 98 percent of the county will have access to high speed internet.
He went through the steps of the build process. The phases of the project are walkout, design, permitting, make-ready, construction, and activation.
Prater said they walkout and walk every foot and see where they are going to attach to poles and where they are going underground. He said this is one of the most time-consuming parts.
Prater said once they complete all of the data that needs to be gathered by the walkout, they put it in design software that actually designs the whole infrastructure. He said it is a very time-consuming, tedious process.
Then it goes to the permitting process. He said they have to apply to the pole owners to attach their lines and to assess the clearances. He said going in the air is the fastest way to get people connected and so they may have seen bucket trucks working. They may have also seen crews trenching to go underground when there is no pole space available.
He said make-ready is getting the poles ready to attach the lines. He said this is also time-consuming as sometimes poles have to be switched out.
The last phases are construction and activation.
Prater updated the council on where they are now. He said on the week of the meeting, the first 400 locations had been activated. In January 2023, they expect to activate approximately 2,200 locations. In Quarter Two of 2023, approximately 725 locations will be activated, and by Quarter Three, approximately 350 locations will be activated. They are on track to finish by the third quarter of 2023.
He said they have been facing supply issues. He said they set an aggressive goal and they are on track.
The council then asked various questions regarding the project.
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To view this meeting in their entirety, go to The Dillon Herald’s channel on YouTube.