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Gallia Commissioners sign lease agreement for broadband towers [Gallipolis Daily Tribune, Ohio](Gallipolis Daily Tribune (OH) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 17--GALLIPOLIS -- In an effort to expand residential high-speed Internet service throughout the rural areas of Gallia County, the Gallia County Board of Commissioners and local Internet service provider JB-Nets signed a lease agreement for county-owned communications tower sites during a regular meeting on Thursday. The lease agreement allows JB-Nets to place the appropriate equipment at three tower sites located near Boggs Road in Harrison Township, near Hamilton Road in Ohio Township and on Mound Hill in Gallipolis Township at a monthly rate of $100 at the Boggs Road and Mound Hill sites (towers approximately 120 feet in height) and $60 per month at the Hamilton Road site (an 100-foot tower). The agreement was approved contingent upon the provision of JB-Nets' property insurance information to the county. "At this point I'm not too concerned about being involved in a lawsuit, et cetera," JB-Nets' General Manager Stephen Kline said. "I guess our comfort level [with the agreement] is there it's just that you guys need to confirm that that yours is there as well." The sites are currently being utilized for emergency communications and, according to the JB-Nets officials, the equipment that will be attached by JB-Nets will not interfere with the equipment currently in place on the towers. Moreover, provisions are in place within the contract in the case if interference does occur. "We sat down, and we went through the contract and went through the part about interference," Gallia County 911 Director Sherry Daines said. "[JB-Nets] made sure wording was in there that, if there is a problem, they have the opportunity to correct the problem and, if they can't, then they will move their equipment out of our facility." JB-Nets, a Bidwell-based company, currently provides Internet service to mainly the northern portion of the county and the addition of the three sites will allow JB-Nets to expand service throughout the central and southern portions of the county. JB-Nets owner Jacob Kline reported in a previous county commission meeting that his company is set to begin placing their equipment on the three county-owned tower sites and begin service to those residents within "line-of-sight" of the towers immediately. Additionally, over a three year period, the company will expand service by placing approximately 30 smaller, secondary towers on property owned by interested individuals throughout the lower portion of the county. These smaller towers will help to provide service to harder to reach areas. "We currently have approximately 30 percent covered with our current system," Kline said. "The addition of the three towers, which would definitely give us some coverage in the southern part of the county, probably would expand an additional 20 to 25 percent coverage immediately -- within probably 30 to 45 days. As we add these secondary towers -- which we don't have a real good idea of exactly where they are going to go because we definitely have to negotiate with land owners and things -- we have proposed thirty of those ... in areas that currently don't have the coverage. These smaller towers would help to procure coverage in that area." Kline also reported that while 80 percent coverage is a goal he believes his company can achieve, he is hopeful to be able to provide service to a larger percentage of the county. "Geographically we can cover 80-plus percent. We're hoping that as we find places to put these smaller secondary sights, we might be able to bump that number up some," Kline said. "Eighty percent is a good number. We probably can do better than that, but it's one of those things where you under sale and overachieve." ___ (c)2011 the Gallipolis Daily Tribune (Gallipolis, Ohio) Visit the Gallipolis Daily Tribune (Gallipolis, Ohio) at www.mydailytribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |