A major broadband expansion project bringing high-speed internet access to nearly 500 homes northeast of Battle Ground Lake is now complete.
The project’s completion was announced by Comcast on Monday, March 9. As part of a partnership with Clark County, Comcast’s network expansion project brings reliable, high-speed, symmetrical Internet from America’s smartest and most reliable converged network to the rural area near Battle Ground, a Comcast news release stated.
“This public–private partnership has been a great success, and I’m excited to see it completed ahead of schedule and on budget,” said Clark County Council Chair Sue Marshall, in the release. “Expanding access to high-speed, broadband internet means more Clark County families can fully participate in modern life, whether that’s working from home, accessing telehealth, supporting students with online learning, or running a home-based business. This project brings underserved rural homes the reliable, future-ready connectivity they need.”
Comcast was ultimately selected through a competitive bidding process, enabling the company to proceed with a fiber-to-the-home network buildout designed to support high-speed, symmetrical internet connections.
Construction on the network largely took place throughout the previous year, with the final homes connected earlier this year. The new infrastructure allows residents to access fiber-based internet service capable of supporting a range of digital needs, including working from home, video streaming and gaming, basic web browsing, and more.
Service packages vary depending on household demand, offering entry-level speeds to multi-gigabit service.
“A customer can select anything from a low-speed connection, and when I say low-speed, it’s approximately 200 megabits all the way up to two gigabits symmetrical,” Roy Novosel, vice president of Engineering and Technical Operations for Comcast Pacific Northwest, told The Reflector. “So it’s really based on the customer’s need and what they feel they need from a connectivity perspective.”
Residents in the area have been notified that they are eligible for service, the release stated, and can visit Xfinity.com or one of two Xfinity Stores located in Clark County to sign up:
Experts at these Xfinity Stores can help with product demonstrations and answer any questions new customers may have, the release added.
The rural expansion not just brings high-speed internet, but also the opportunity to access the full suite of Xfinity offerings.
“We built a fiber-to-the-home network that can support symmetrical speeds to each of these homes and provide service for not just internet, but the full suite of products that we have which is: internet, video, our mobile and our Xfinity home product which is security and home automation, as well,” Novosel said.
Comcast's rural expansion is both a sign of getting a head start for the future and of catching up with a recent trend in rural internet usage.
For rural residents, access to reliable broadband has increasingly become a necessity rather than a luxury. While internet demand has grown steadily over the past 15-plus years, the shift toward digital services accelerated significantly following the COVID-19 pandemic as more people relied on online platforms for work, education and everyday tasks.
In many rural communities, limited infrastructure has historically prevented residents from fully taking advantage of those opportunities. This expansion, along with a recent billion-dollar statewide investment, aims to close that gap and allow rural households to access the same level of service typically offered in urban areas.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved Washington’s final Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program proposal, clearing the way for the Washington State Broadband Office (WSBO) to begin awarding $736 million in federal funding and $112 million in state match funding to bring high-speed internet to areas across the state, a February press release by the Washington State Department of Commerce stated.
BEAD projects will bring about 166,500 businesses and households online over the next four years in Washington. Construction timelines vary by project, but all construction must be completed within four years. WSBO anticipates that some projects will break ground this year, the release adds.
The funding awards include projects in both Clark County and Cowlitz County, which will be served by multiple providers, including Comcast.
“We won three awards,” Novosel said, adding that two project areas are in Clark County, with the third in Cowlitz County. “Once they get officially approved by the NTIA, we’ll be finishing up all the contract negotiations with the state broadband office, and we’ll get busy building those out.”
There are 238 project areas in under- and unserved locations across the state. The project areas can be viewed at expressoptimizer.net/public/Washington/showmap.html.
This approval follows Washington’s submission of its Final Proposal in September. The proposal outlined the state’s strategy for awarding funds to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Public Utility Districts (PUDs), cooperatives, tribes, and other organizations to build and expand broadband infrastructure in underserved and unserved areas. To view the full list of approved awardees, visit deptofcommerce.app.box.com/s/xysbvt5djn2clvboq8dirtw7z0m3d5ih.
