Ben U’Sellis, with Charter Communications, updates the Maysville City Commission on a broadband project that is currently underway in the county.
Ben U’Sellis, with Charter Communications, recently updated Maysville city officials on a broadband project that is meant to bring faster internet service to homes.
During a recent Maysville City Commission meeting, U’Sellis said the project has been underway for a while and the goal is to connect more than 4,800 homes to Fiber internet with high-speed internet.
“When this project is completed, these homes will have all the fastest speeds of anywhere in the country,” he said.
According to U’Sellis, the project has three phases.
The first phase was the backend work, where the design work was completed.
“We go out, walk around, drive every road, look at every pole,” he said. “We design our whole network. That was completed around Summer 2023.”
U’Sellis said phase two is the most important. That phase is when the permitting work is completed.
“We take all of that information that we gather and submit it to the utility companies,” he said. “There are state and railroad permits we have to get too, but the biggest part is the pole permits.”
According to U’Sellis, the pole permits were submitted in Summer 2023 and is now waiting for those to come back.
“We pay for all of that work and they process it,” he said. “Just to be frank, that process determines whether your project is done in a matter of months or a matter of years. But as soon as they’re finished, we will get to work. We have seen projects where those permits can languish more than a year.”
U’Sellis said that Fleming-Mason Energy is working with a group to go pole by pole as the permits are submitted.
“I think that will result in a much faster deployment,” he said. “We’ve already started that work with them in the Eastern part of the county. We are hopeful that with the work we’re doing with them, we can work to bring all of the pole owners to the table. We want these permits to go through quickly, so we can get the work finished as fast as possible.”
He also told the city commissioners that the work will be finished in sections. About 200 homes will be served by one piece of equipment. Once one is complete, the homes on that equipment piece can be lit up.
“Our goal is to have the majority of the project finished this year,” he said. “No promises, but that’s our goal to have the majority or all of this done by the end of the year.”
Mason County Judge-Executive Owen McNeill said he was pleased to hear about the progress on the broadband project.
“I’m pleased with the progress of our city county broadband project. Ben and Charter completed phase one early and now we are working through pole permitting. Soon, we’ll begin meeting with Charter and our main pole owners, RECC and KU which will allow for more frequent updates across Maysville and Mason County. As sections are completed, they’ll begin ‘lighting’ them up, with crews already over in Eastern Mason County currently,” McNeill stated. “Outside of Charter, our current providers are making investments as well. Performance Broadband is working on projects including Jersey Ridge Road while Windstream has been focused on Western Mason County. Windstream has been in Dover, Minerva and along Mary Ingles Highway as well as some work in Old Washington and 62. While we welcomed Charter to Mason County, our current providers are investing and ensuring connectivity for everyone.”
