About

In September 2020, Lewis County needed to address their broadband infrastructure needs. They realized that improvements were required to facilitate County growth and provide solutions for residents.

Solution

The project involved the implementation and execution of an infrastructure inventory and BAAT program.

The inventory project included a field inventory of the County’s existing broadband infrastructure, namely the fiber optic, coaxial cable, and tower infrastructure. In addition, ECC’s OSP team drove the roads of the County and to the extent possible, physically identified and documented the County’s existing broadband infrastructure. This was all mapped in a GIS format.

The BAAT is a web-based application that allowed for the documentation of demand for broadband services within Lewis County, with a marketing component, data, and mapped responses all captured in one portal.

Outcome

The inventory revealed several areas within the County that, despite many in-use grants, would still lack access to viable broadband. In addition, the BAAT program revealed that 23% of respondents lacked broadband access and 40% of those who had access were paying over $75 per month. There were several other key indicators; including, 71% having issues accessing health care, of those working from home 60% reported having trouble completing work, and of those with school-age children 75% reported issues related to schoolwork.

 Armed with this information and data, several options were presented to fix the remaining broadband issues. These options included County-funded build-outs through additional grants or public-private partnership agreements with a provider. In either scenario, solutions were presented to target the areas of need.