On the way to the Orange County Rural Fire Station #2 in Schley on Tuesday, crews with fiber optic cables worked on either end of Phelps Road. The workers prepared to set up ‘Road Work’ signs and unspooled the long, black cables.
Meanwhile, at the fire station, a group of Orange County leaders and representatives from Lumos gathered to celebrate that exact installation work being prepared.
The county government and high-speed fiber internet provider cut a ceremonial ribbon Tuesday morning, celebrating the launch of Lumos’ service in Orange County and representing an early step in the public-private partnership struck in April 2022. The first customer had its internet through Lumos installed on Monday — the start of an effort to try and improve internet access for around 6,000 underserved residents.
Derek Kelly, the vice president of market development for Lumos, shared some of the ways his company hopes those residents will see their online access improved.
“For them,” he said, “it just opens up the world of being able to do schooling from home, work from home, run small businesses out of their house. We speak a lot about telemedicine and what that means for individuals that have chronic illnesses and what it [means] to not have to drive to a doctor that may be in Raleigh or somewhere else. It just opens up all those opportunities.”
Derek Kelly of Lumos speaks with the gathered group of Lumos employees and Orange County officials at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for their partnership on Tuesday, August 15.
Chair of the Orange County Commissioners Jamezetta Bedford addressing the attendees at Orange Rural Fire Station #2 in Hillsborough, which will be served by the broadband expansion.
Ahead of the ribbon-cutting, Orange County officials described the process to arriving at this point of its journey toward broadband expansion. County Commissioner Earl McKee said he and the other elected officials had long heard from residents in the northern part of the county about a lack of access, and the local government had it listed as a priority to figure out solutions. McKee cited a 2016 change in state law in 2016 that limited Orange County’s ability to provide such broadband service on its own.
But during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when many people were sheltered in place at residences and doing remote work, that lack of internet options became even more apparent. Between the stories of residents who had to sit in cars outside of schools or offices to connect to internet and his own experience traveling to Hillsborough to virtually attend board meetings, McKee said it became clear to himself and others on the board that something had to be done.
“That was a reality at my house: I did not have service,” he said. “I decided to petition our board to create a task force to explore viable options. The situation I saw was no longer a nuisance. It had become an issue of fairness and equity.”
From there, McKee and Commissioner Sally Greene worked together with county staff and community members on the broadband task force to identify the more critical areas that needed improved broadband. Ultimately, it made a recommendation to the other commissioners to use the federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act to explore a public-private partnership — eventually identifying Lumos, which is based in High Point and provides service to other parts of North Carolina.
“We led the pack with our approach, partnering directly with the federal government instead of losing years waiting for the state legislature to develop its alternative,” said Greene. “And for that, today, we are seeing shovels in the ground long before many others in our state. But this took courage and a belief in our local self-reliance, and it took the support of our local residents. It meant changing state legislation to ensure counties had unhindered access to their own federal funds and to allow for more participation from local governments to stimulate competitive choice and new technologies.”
The $10 million allocated from federal funds for the project, according to the county, will go toward addressing underserved and unserved residents first, which Greene described as “bridging the digital divide” that currently exists. But she added that the partnership also incentivizes Lumos to extend and improve broadband service for thousands of other residents in the county. Once the project is finished, Lumos estimates more than 28,000 residents will have the infrastructure to receive high-speed fiber internet service.
The initial installation of service for Phase 1 community members, which is northwest of downtown Hillsborough and covers the Cedar Grove area, is ongoing. Phase 2 includes Schley and the area around the rural fire station where Tuesday’s event took place, which aims to begin providing service in the fall. Phase 3 includes the Buckhorn community directly west of Hillsborough and the Eno township directly east, as well as the most northern area of Orange County.
The implementation map of Lumos’ broadband expansion and installation plan for Orange County, with the numbers indicating the gradual phases. (Photo via Orange County.)
When Kelly looks at the map of phases, he said, “It’s fun to think we’re going to put a thousand miles of fiber in all those pink and purple areas.” He said Lumos impression of the county on the ground so far has largely backed up its impression when first meeting the residents: a community that needs the service, but has faced an uphill battle getting it because of how spread out it can be.
“There’s definitely some difficult areas to build in,” said Kelly. “You look at the northern part of the country, there’s a lot of big properties, there’s a lot of trees. It creates some challenges and that’s probably a reason why a lot of the incumbents haven’t built much infrastructure out in the county. That’s really where this public-private partnership come into play: by them helping with those American Rescue Plan Act funds, it helps us make northern Orange County more like Hillsborough or Mebane.”
More information on the ongoing broadband expansion partnership between Orange County and Lumos can be found on the county government’s website. To check if specific addresses qualify for Lumos’ fiber-optic internet service, click here.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story said Lumos was headquartered in Virginia. The company was initially based in Waynesboro, VA, but moved new headquarters to High Point, NC after merging with North State Communications in 2022.
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