Orange County NC Website
2 <br /> • Cedar Grove United Methodist Church <br /> • Cedar Grove Ruritan Club <br /> • Poplar Ridge. Covey Creek <br /> There is a Crown Castle cell phone tower off of Schley Road that is currently in the pre-permitting <br /> process and should come on line by March 2020. <br /> Along with weekly progress meetings, Open Broadband provides monthly internal progress reports to <br /> the county as well as external newsletters to their customers. <br /> In other broadband news, Piedmont Electrical Cooperative has entered into a non-monetary <br /> partnership with River Street Communications to offer wireless and eventually fiber to the home to all <br /> of Piedmont's customers. Currently River Street's focus is in Person County, but Orange County is <br /> working with them to explore are any opportunity to bring broadband Piedmont's Orange County <br /> customers. <br /> Analysis: The Open Broadband Pilot is not moving at the previously expected pace. The expectation <br /> was that Phase 2 would either be started by now or pending. Currently, the focus is solely on Phase <br /> 1 and Phase 2 planning has been put on hold. <br /> As expected, finding low cost vertical assets has and continues to be a challenge. At the current <br /> pace, Open Broadband should have approximately 100 customers signed up by February 2020. This <br /> puts the current broadband costs for the County at approximately $2,500 per installation. <br /> Broadband Timeline of Relevant Events Past, Present and Future <br /> • October 2021 — 36 month pilot complete and Manager offers final report to the Board. <br /> • December 2019 — Approximately 85 customers have service. <br /> • April 2019 — First Phase 1 customer is signed up proving that initial equipment setup is <br /> working <br /> • February 2019 — Manager requests Board approval for Open Broadband tower agreement <br /> • October 2018 — Contract with Open Broadband is executed and 6 month clock to sign up first <br /> customer and have them working begins. <br />