Rural Digital Inclusion Program

About the Program

Category: Community and Economic Development (Best in Category)

Year: 2020

The Kent County Commissioners, in a public/private partnership (P3) with Kent Fiber Optic Systems, constructed a 110-mile fiber optic network throughout Kent County to extend high speed broadband access to close the digital divide. Recognizing the homework gap that exists in rural areas and among citizens lacking means, the Commissioners connected 70 community anchor sites to create free gigabit connected WIFI ''homework hotspots'' for students and the general public. The anchor sites are municipal centers such as town halls, fire departments, police stations, parks and libraries among others. As the county government designed and configured the public service offerings of the network, Kent Fiber Optic Systems leased fiber access to a fiber to the premise (FTTx) Internet Service Provider which is now offering synchronous gigabit speeds to homes and businesses in many areas of the county. By combining county funds with private sector investment, the P3 embraced a ''to and through'' approach to connect community anchors sites, increase service offerings to the public while reducing construction costs for the FTTx provider. By building “to” an anchor, fibers are available for lease thereby reducing construction costs for a provider to build “through” the anchor to homes and businesses. The Kent County Commissioners saw the importance of broadband access for citizens well before the Covid-19 crisis. The fiber network enables timely construction of new laterals which will connect more citizens soon.