The county of Riverside pushed its RFP for gigabit Internet services back by 30 days to Sept. 7.
“There are some rural areas out in our desert [where] a lot of people needed to do a little more research to figure out what fiber is in the ground. That was the primary reason why we extended it,” Chief Broadband Officer Steve Reneker said.
Reneker moved over to his broadband leadership position from the county’s CIO slot in June.
The RIVCOconnect project has been in effect for almost a year and has about six months left, according to Reneker.
While efforts to address the underserved areas have already been made through the assistance of the Anza Electric Co-op and the Inland Empire Regional Broadband Consortium, the county hopes to bring affordable Internet to all its 700 square miles in another public-private partnership.
The county hopes for a “digital inclusion component that includes those locations that either have poor speeds, no connectivity or high-priced packages,” Reneker said.
Spectrum currently has the ability to cover all the county, but doesn’t serve "last mile" residences due to cost and offers no gigabit speed.
While gigabit connectivity is “more complicated for a county,” especially with 28 cities and 12 tribal communities, Reneker hopes it will relieve stress on infrastructure, bring in new kinds of business and rebrand the county from a bedroom community.
A master contract should be negotiated by Thanksgiving, and a recommendation should be available for the Board of Governors by Jan. 1.
