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2 <br /> Due to the nature of the telecommunications industry, identifying specific unserved addresses is <br /> difficult. There is no official map that identifies specific locations or addresses that are defined as <br /> served or unserved. The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) maps, for example, are <br /> imprecise since they only provide information by census block, not specific addresses within that <br /> census block. North State compiled a list of addresses that the company believed were unserved <br /> based on their engineering and mapping. The only way to verify addresses that are served by <br /> Spectrum Communications is to individually search for them on the Spectrum website. <br /> Spectrum Communications initially claimed that the company provided service to over 4,700 <br /> addresses that were intended to be funded with County grant funds. Through a verification <br /> process that included staff from the County, North State Communications, and Spectrum <br /> Communications, the list of served addresses was refined to 3,528. While the number of <br /> addresses that are funded with County grant funds has decreased, the total number of addresses <br /> served, linear miles of fiber installed, and the cost to install the fiber is not impacted. The disputed <br /> addresses are in locations that are either along the fiber route that will be needed to reach the <br /> unserved addresses or are in more densely populated areas which North State has a strong <br /> economic interest to serve. <br /> The proposed contract amendments refine the list of addresses funded with County grant dollars <br /> and address concerns raised since the original contract was considered. <br /> 1. Refining addresses funded with the County grant <br /> The proposed contract amendment revises the number of addresses funded with County <br /> grant dollars from 9,898 to no less than 6,370 with corresponding changes to the address <br /> list in Attachment B. The amendment also generally prohibits County grant funds from <br /> being to be used to provide service to already served locations. <br /> 2. Expansion of the service area <br /> The original service area defined in the contract only included those areas where the <br /> County had identified unserved households. The North State construction plan extends <br /> beyond that area. The contract amendment proposes to expand the service area to include <br /> the entirety of North State's planned construction. This means that North State will be <br /> obligated to serve any unserved address in the expanded service area and that those <br /> addresses will be automatically added to the list of addresses in Attachment B. <br /> The only limitation to this obligation outside of the original grant area is if the cost of the <br /> fiber extension would be double the average cost of passing homes in the service area. <br /> The average cost to pass each address is $3,700, so twice the average cost would be <br /> $7,400. This cost is equivalent to an installation of greater than a mile to serve less than <br /> eight homes. <br /> 3. Price and network performance protections expanded to the entire service area. <br /> The original contract included a mandatory low cost service option, limitations on price <br /> increases, and performance guarantees for network reliability and performance for <br /> addresses funded through the agreement. The contract amendment extends these <br /> protections to any address in the service area. <br /> 4. Low cost service offering modified to remove cost barriers <br /> The original contract required a low cost service to be available to subscribers in Orange <br /> County to help remove barriers to access. That original offering was 200 mbps symmetrical <br />