Curt:
What we affectionately call non-members. Everybody's a customer, but that's how we refer to those folks in the office. I mean, everything is essentially the same. The price is the same, the drop is the same, the hardware. Everything we do is the same.

Andrea:
Right.

Curt:
So yeah. So we're trying to get those folks connected up and get the word out that those are it, but that's in pockets around the county.

Andrea:
Right. So it's not a widespread, hey, everybody-

Curt:
Right.

Andrea:
... we can do this now.

Curt:
Right, yep.

Andrea:
But it's a great first step.

Curt:
Yep.

Andrea:
Steps that we've taken.

Curt:
Yep, for sure.

Andrea:
Welcome to Connected Conversations, the official podcast of Kosciusko Connect. Kosciusko Connect is a subsidiary of Kosciusko REMC. Since 2021, we have been providing lightning fast, reliable fiber to the home internet service to rural portions of northern Indiana. On Connected Conversations, we talk about fiber internet, technology, community, and how to navigate the digital world in which we live. I'm your host, Andrea Melton. Thank you for connecting with us today. Thank you for joining us for episode number four of Connected Conversations. Joining me today is the vice president of broadband and technology here at Kosciusko Connect, Curt Barkey. Hi, Curt.

Curt:
Hey, how's it going?

Andrea:
Very good. How are you doing today?

Curt:
Well, we're hanging in there.

Andrea:
Excellent. Today, Curt is going to help us answer some burning questions that have been on the minds of people in our community, specifically one question that we tend to hear daily. And we are very excited to have the opportunity with this podcast platform to shed some light on these very important questions. So Curt, let's get started.

Curt:
Yeah, absolutely.

Andrea:
Kosciusko Connect has successfully completed its initial two-year project. And we have connected over 7,300 households to our fast fiber internet, which is awesome.

Curt:
Yeah.

Andrea:
When KREMC launched Kosciusko Connect, we began building our fiber network and initially limited installations to KREMC members only.

Curt:
Yep.

Andrea:
Can you talk about why that is?

Curt:
So the biggest reason of that is we're an electric cooperative, first and foremost. So we're here to serve our membership. And without getting into too many of the details of what that actually means, the membership pays for what we do. I mean, that's how it all started. And so we felt that, with the membership asking us to do a broadband project, that it made the most sense to take care of our members first. That's part of our core values is to serve those folks.

Andrea:
Absolutely.

Curt:
And so that's what we decided to do. And that's what we've been doing for the last two years. We're getting folks connected up. And we know, we are fully aware that it's just not our membership that needs access to reliable and affordable internet. There are pockets all around this county that need the exact same thing. And so we're starting to look at that, and that's what we're going to be talking about today.

Andrea:
Awesome. Well, we are definitely thrilled with the huge success that the first couple of years have been. And the future looks bright, of course. But that question that we do get asked daily is, when can I get your fiber internet? And this question, of course, comes from those who want the fast, reliable internet, but they're not living in our service territory or they're not our members. Well, now we have officially began performing some installations to certain non-member residences.

Curt:
Yep.

Andrea:
Can you tell us more about this milestone and what it means?

Curt:
So when we build out, that design is based off of our electric distribution that we've had for over 75 years. And so we call it we're following power. But there are instances where we cross service territories like NIPSCO or Duke to get to our members. And when we did that when we were building out fiber, we took into account that, hey, there's this house across the street or there's this farm across the street, or whatever the case may be. And we were planning to do that. So that's phase one for us, those easy customers that fall outside of our service territory where we've already planned to pick you up. And that's what we're seeing today. Those are the folks that already have that tap on the pole that they can call in or go to our website and sign up for service. We'll know who you are almost immediately. And you can get service without any type of extra construction or anything like that.

Andrea:
Okay.

Curt:
We're treating what we affectionately call non-members. Everybody's a customer, but that's how we refer to those folks in the office. I mean, everything is essentially the same. The price is the same, the drop is the same, the hardware. Everything we do is the same.

Andrea:
Right.

Curt:
So yeah. So we're trying to get those folks connected up and get the word out that those are it. But that's in pockets around the county.

Andrea:
Right. So it's not a widespread, hey, everybody-

Curt:
Right.

Andrea:
... we can do this now.

Curt:
Right, yep.

Andrea:
But it's a great first step.

Curt:
Yep.

Andrea:
Steps that we've taken.

Curt:
Yep, for sure.

Andrea:
I know there are some differences when it comes to our residential fiber internet service versus our internet service for a business. Are we able to build out fiber to businesses who are not KREMC members?

Curt:
Absolutely. And we've got a couple examples that we're doing that for. And so for those businesses that do want to make that investment, we work with them to figure out what it is that they need to do with us. And then we get you in the schedule and we build fiber. And then obviously, as we're passing folks along the way, those folks get that option as well to get connected up. We don't have a whole lot of examples like that around the system because, primarily, it's expensive to do, right? It is-

Andrea:
Right.

Curt:
If everybody wanted to build fiber in the county, they'd have done it by now. And the primary reason why they haven't is because of the cost of doing that. And so those are limited examples, but those are examples of where we have connected businesses up because they're looking for something better than what they currently got.

Andrea:
Okay. I know there are some households in Sydney that are soon to have access to our fiber internet. That's a really exciting project. Can you tell us more about what's going on with Sydney?

Curt:
Absolutely. So the Sydney project is probably the largest outside of our service territory expansion that we're looking at. And that is a culmination of at least a couple years' worth of work with us and the county. And really what that stemmed from was Kosciusko County was a part of the Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program.

Andrea:
Okay.

Curt:
And they had some ARPA dollars and some other funds that went into these projects. And these towns were to figure out these projects that they wanted to do to have some legacy projects that would stick around to improve the quality of life in Kosciusko. And I was a part of that committee. I sat on the advisory board for that as one of the e-connectivity folks. And what stemmed from the year and a half work that we had done on that was really getting the town of Sydney connected, because what we did was is we looked at these areas around the county to decide where... it's all density. So the more folks that we got there, the more families, the easier it is to do something.
Who doesn't have connectivity? Who's not likely going to get connectivity anytime soon? And where does that work? And we came upon Sydney. I don't really want to say it's in the middle of nowhere, but there's no service provider that is close to servicing them outside of Kosciusko REMC with fiber internet. And so I was asked to put a presentation together to present to the county council, the county commissioners, and the ARPA committee.
Me and alongside of lots of other folks here in the office, we took a look at that, did that presentation, and they agreed that that is something that we needed to do. And so we've already actually started that work. We've started with our engineering firm. They were in yesterday, I believe, looking to see what it is that we needed to do. They'll grab address points, they'll grab polls, they'll grab everything that we need to do to do design. And hopefully, by Q2 of 2024, there's about 94 addresses down there that will have access to our internet and get folks connected.

Andrea:
Wonderful.

Curt:
Yeah.

Andrea:
I'm sure that those folks in Sydney must be very excited that this is moving forward.

Curt:
I would be. I mean, going down and servicing some other businesses and going around the county. I don't usually get to the southeast part of the county very often. It's not part of my normal travels. And it's a gorgeous piece of the county down there. And what a great place if you want to live rural but still have that small town feel, now you're going to have access to the best internet that the county has to offer. And I would imagine that folks would be super excited to be able to say, "Yeah, I can live rural. I live in a small town and I have internet just like they have in Chicago."

Andrea:
Yes.

Curt:
How cool is that?

Andrea:
That is very cool.

Curt:
Yeah.

Andrea:
Because we use this internet for everything-

Curt:
Everything.

Andrea:
... nowadays. Just everything. Does Kosciusko Connect plan to reach other areas where people need reliable internet and currently don't have access to it.

Curt:
Yeah. So a lot of this has to do with funding. So when we started doing this, there was... And everything's done by census blocks. And I think some folks, I mean, I certainly didn't understand when we started this how the funding worked and how grants and all of that was for servicing internet or building internet to make that work. But-

Andrea:
It's a lot.

Curt:
It is. It is a lot. And everything is done by census blocks. So as a service provider, we have to report where we have service. Every provider is the same way. And that's how they divvy up the funds that a service provider would get to build internet. And so we've gone through a couple rounds of grant funding. The first one was RDOF, which was the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. That was straight shortly after the whole COVID-19 stuff. We've won some money with the Next Level grant out of the state of Indiana. Obviously we've won money for Sydney, which we just talked about. But the next big round of funding is called BEAD.
And without getting into too many of the details and going through all of that, but that BEAD funding is intended to get every American connected up to reliable broadband service. And then there's service tiers based on funding and a whole slew of other things. And so we are actively keeping an eye on that, what those requirements are, what that looks like. And ideally, what we'd love to do is any of those pockets that are in rural Kosciusko County here, again, depending on what that funding looks like, pick up those areas with that BEAD funding. That's the long-term goal. It's a long process. 2024 is going to be mainly used for challenging what broadband service providers say they have in an area. And the Indiana Broadband Office is saying possibly 2025, early 2025 is when some of that funding could become available. I love our state agencies. They've given us some money to do this. I think early 2025 is early. I think it may be even mid-2025, but I don't know.

Andrea:
Okay.

Curt:
But we're actively looking at that. We're actively trying to figure out does that make sense for us to be able to do it? Because when we're building to our membership, that's easy to do, right?

Andrea:
Right.

Curt:
When we're building to other places, as we get outside of the membership, things start to get more spread apart. And so your density becomes less and then your payback becomes longer. And that's what you got to look at to say, "What do we want our payback to be in a certain timeframe? And how do we want to make that investment?" Usually, for smaller service providers like us, it's easy to do when you have help to be able to do that. And we're looking to BEAD to make that happen and we'll just see what happens and go from there.

Andrea:
Right. So the BEAD funding that you talk about, is that part of or related to the line extension program?

Curt:
What that essentially is, that gets you money as the individual to say, "Hey, I'm interested in fiber." And it's really that last mile portion. That's that line extension. We're trying to get to those folks where you're not building an entire infrastructure to service them. They just maybe need a mile or two miles or something like that.

Andrea:
Okay.

Curt:
It depends on how many folks are there and how many folks sign up. There is a limit to it. But anybody can bid on that, so if you sign up for Indiana, the line extension portion of that. I can bid on that as Kosciusko REMC, Kosciusko Connect, Comcast, Frontier. Everybody that's looking at that list could bid on that and say, "Hey, we can do it for X amount of dollars," and go that route. So that is an option. It only, I think, comes out maybe once every 90 days is when they release the list.

Andrea:
People who believe they might fit that bill that they are just pretty close to where our lines end, they should individually look into that program. And we can probably get them some information on how to do that.

Curt:
Yep. I don't think we've actively talked to anybody that can do that. It's just an option that we've said, "Hey." When somebody calls in and they're like, "Man, I really want internet. I see you three pole spans down from where I'm at."

Andrea:
Yeah.

Curt:
And a lot of times what we'll say is. "Okay. Well, it's going to cost X to get to you." Well, X is usually pretty expensive and most folks aren't going to... We're talking tens of thousands of dollars possibly, right?

Andrea:
Right.

Curt:
A lot of people just aren't going to do that for an internet service, and we get it and we understand. That's where the line extension comes into play. It helps fund and get those people connected.

Andrea:
Very good.

Curt:
So yeah.

Andrea:
Fascinating.

Curt:
Yeah.

Andrea:
So I guess to move towards the end of our conversation, now that we are officially offering our fiber internet service to certain residents outside of KREMC service territory, what should someone do who's listening if they're not a member, but they're interested in our service?

Curt:
Absolutely. So go out to our website, kosciuskoconnect.com. In the upper right-hand corner, there's a check availability button. Not only can you sign up for service if you're in our existing serviceable area, but you can also go through and fill out the form and do a speed test. And we're gathering that data on where folks are interested in our service. And what that does is that helps us understand where we need to go. Because it's all about getting people connected, and we want to get people connected, but we also need to make sure that we got enough folks that are willing to take our service so that we're just not building fiber to be building fiber.

Andrea:
Right.

Curt:
Because as you know, we all have plenty to do. There's a lot going on over here at the co-op and at Kosciusko Connect. And so it helps us gauge where the interest is and what we need to do. But that is the best way to get your name into the list, per se. And we can see on the map, we ask what your download speeds are and who your service providers are and all that good stuff. But yeah, kosciuskoconnect.com, upper right-hand corner, check availability, fill out the form. And legit the best way you can get ahold of us.

Andrea:
Awesome. Thank you so much for that information. Anything else that we wanted to touch upon today that we have not?

Curt:
I don't know. I mean, I love doing what I'm doing. I could talk broadband all day long. I think if there's one last thing that I would say is we understand that there is a need, whether that's you're not happy with your service provider that you currently have because the sales process isn't very good or support isn't very good. Because it's not all about speed for some folks, it's just having to deal with that local company. We understand, we hear you. We're doing everything that we possibly can to get fiber built to everybody. It takes time to do some of this stuff, so you got to be patient with us.
And yeah, there's going to be areas that we're not going to get to. That's just part of it. If you're in a more urban area where you've got options, it may not be the option that you want. But here again, we got to look at the cost of what it takes to do this versus what we call a take rate in that area. And where does it make the most business sense to go? And ultimately, from my standpoint, I want to get those folks connected that don't have options, right?

Andrea:
Yes.

Curt:
That's what we do. I mean, that's what we do as an electric cooperative. That's what we're trying to do on the Connect side of things is get those folks connected that don't have good options. But everybody know that we're fully aware of the need and we're trying to work as hard as we possibly can to get funding to figure out how do we make this work for everybody in Kosciusko? Because I truly believe what we're doing as a broadband service provider in the county changes our county for the better forever. And it's just not us. There's a lot of good things going on in Kosciusko. But what I can control, what we can control here in the office, we know we're making a huge difference. And we're going to keep trying to do that as best we possibly can.

Andrea:
Yes, we are. Well, thank you so much for the information and the sentiments, Curt. It's been great. And I do hope you will join us again on an episode of Connected Conversations.

Curt:
Sure. Anytime. I'm just right across the hallway, as you know.

Andrea:
Great. Well, have a good rest of your day and we'll talk again soon.

Curt:
Sounds good. Thanks.

Andrea:
You've been listening to Connected Conversations, the official podcast of Kosciusko Connect. From all of us at Kosciusko Connect, thank you for connecting with us today.