The construction for Garfield County’s Broadband Initiative has officially been completed, as the project — aiming to provide more reliable internet access to all parts of the county — reaches phase three.
Last month, Garfield County announced that it had completed the first two parts of a three-phase initiative to bring “more reliable, robust, and affordable internet service” to households and businesses in Garfield County, a goal which aligns with the Board of County Commissioners’ project goals for 2024, according to a county news release.
Phase one of the project saw carrier neutral location facilities (secure data centers) built in Glenwood Springs and Rifle. Phase two expanded that infrastructure to include construction of carrier neutral locations (CNL) in New Castle, Silt and Parachute, and establishing access to large internet hubs in Denver and Salt Lake City, according to the release.
The county’s contributions toward improving its middle-mile internet infrastructure, called its broadband initiative, are on track to providing service for roughly 4,000 homes in Garfield County that currently have no internet access, according to NEO Connect Chief Executive Officer Diane Kruse. The initiative will also facilitate investment to increase competition in the area “at extremely robust service levels with broadband fiber to the home.”
Middle-mile infrastructure refers to the fiber transport connection between the backbone (fiber in the ground) and the last mile to homes. For Garfield County, this middle fiber is located along Interstate 70. The county’s goal to improve middle-mile infrastructure will bolster internet supply between communities.
Between Garfield County and the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA), an estimated $5 million has been contributed to construct both phase one and phase two of the middle-mile infrastructure, according to information provided by Garfield County.
“By design, this $5 million investment effort directly underpins Garfield County’s economic development portfolio by providing highly attractive broadband (fiber) infrastructure for existing businesses, new businesses, residences and a long list of key community institutions, such as Grand River Health, Colorado Mountain College, RE-2 School District (and more) throughout the county at pricing structures that will compete with existing providers at unsurpassed service levels, allowing our region to compete in the overall marketplace at a much higher level,” County Commissioner Mike Samson wrote. “To put that service level in context, this broadband infrastructure will provide a level of service at 100 to 1,000 times faster than our current leading internet service providers in our towns and rural areas. This is gigabit service in actual fiber to the home and business which is a very exciting step forward for our County. Imagine the possibilities enabled by this infrastructure!”
In 2022 and 2023, Garfield County, utilizing DOLA grants, partnered with Region 10 to establish CNLs along Interstate 70 to help expand the middle-mile infrastructure, according to the release. Region 10 leverages resources to help provide affordable, high-speed internet service to Western Slope communities.
The board’s continued partnership with Region 10 — and other local communities — are part of the board’s policy directives to implement service throughout the Colorado River Valley and to encourage internet service providers (ISP) to provide service to non-served customers throughout the region in phase three of the project, according to the news release.
“All of that work has laid an excellent foundation for what is happening this year,” Kruse said in the release. “The county can be a facilitator to pursue grant funding (not as an applicant) for really robust gigabit-enabled broadband services for those 4,000 homes that have no service today, and also for a potential partnership for cities and towns to improve their broadband services within their communities.”
All carrier neutral locations built in phase two of the project are being connected to the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) fiber lines under Interstate 70.
“This allows very robust, abundant broadband,” Kruse said in the release. “We’re talking about terabit capacity for these facilities, and it is something that the ISPs can use to offer services to end users within the county. … It is also affordable; having access to internet is often the largest expense an ISP has on their profit and loss (P&L) statement. With our partnership to Region 10, we’re lowering that barrier to entry and lowering that very expensive cost, making it affordable for them to serve the communities.”
Next steps and cost
The third and final phase of the project will construct the “last mile” service that would reach customers who live outside of current service areas, “also known as fiber to the home,” according to the release.
Phase three is currently underway, and the county is working with interested service providers on project areas.
The initial cost estimate to establish middle-mile connectivity to the CNLs along I-70 was around $15 million. The final cost, however, turned out to be $1 million, thanks to the county’s partnership with Region 10.
“Garfield County, through the grant and through being able to access existing fiber, was able to establish this very robust infrastructure at very little cost,” Kruse said in the release. “You didn’t have to spend $15 million to secure this access. It was a little over a $1 million investment, with the grant, to establish these locations and to access this infrastructure.”
The “last mile” portion of the project will be funded by internet service providers, largely through Broadband Equity Access Deployment (BEAD) funding and private capital, according to Garfield County Chief Communications Officer Renelle Lott.
Broadband equipment is currently being staged and coordinated with Region 10. The carrier neutral locations will be operational early this summer.
The federal BEAD program is providing $42.5 billion to improve internet service across the country, and $826 million is allocated to the state of Colorado, according to the release. ISPs are required to provide matching funds for grant funding used in the network build.
“With all of the programs, there’s a 25 percent match,” Kruse said in the release. “This is very capital intensive, and it’s anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 per home to build fiber to that location. This would never work in a rural area like Garfield County where there’s low-population density and it’s very expensive to build. It wouldn’t happen without a subsidy. There is a return in that they get broadband, and they didn’t have to pay $10,000 (to connect to their home).”
