The Yuba County Board of Supervisors has approved a broadband master plan with the goal of improving areas of the county that lack high-quality Internet access.
Ian Scott, project manager of broadband for Yuba County, said Valley Vision was selected as the contractor to commission the master plan in July 2020, with funding provided by the Yuba Water Agency.
“The chief issue with broadband in Yuba County is a lack of middle-mile broadband infrastructure,” Scott said in an email after the board’s Oct. 26 vote. “Current networks will need to be expanded to provide reliable service up to the foothills and throughout areas of the valley floor that currently lack high-quality access.”
A staff report said current broadband availability in Yuba County is mixed. The federal broadband standard is 25/3 megabytes per second (Mbps).
An executive summary of the master plan laid out the current situation with broadband in the county. The top four largest Internet service providers (ISPs) in Yuba County are Comcast, AT&T, Digital Path and Succeed.Net. About 96 percent of households have access to only two or fewer ISPs, which indicates a noncompetitive broadband network. Six percent of households are unserved at the 25/3 Mbps standard, 23 percent are unserved at 100/20 Mbps, and 97 percent of households are unserved at 1,000/500 Mbps. The most unserved areas are the central and northeast parts of the county. There are middle-mile fiber-optic routes mostly in the west part of the county along Highways 20, 65 and 70.
Scott said the master plan offers ways to streamline the approval process of new broadband projects, changes to the Yuba County Development Code, commissioning a broadband master environmental report, and a master license agreement with ISPs.
“If implemented, these policies will reduce barriers to the improvement of broadband access and reliability within Yuba County,” Scott said. “It also recommends using a public-private partnership model, leveraging state and federal grant dollars to stimulate private-sector investment in broadband network expansion.”
Improved infrastructure means direct access to education, health care and virtual work, and it can help rural residents who are otherwise forced to travel long distances for some services, Scott said. Improved broadband will also improve emergency communications for hard-to-reach areas.
The next stage in the process will be meeting with stakeholders and developing the language for the proposed policy changes to streamline the broadband project approval process.
“Meanwhile, we will keep our eyes on the horizon as we monitor the progress of a new California Public Utilities Commission middle-mile broadband fiber project, and await the release of state and federal grants for broadband expansion projects within Yuba County,” Scott said. “We are enthusiastic about the economic development potential of expanding access to affordable and reliable broadband for both residents and businesses.”
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