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After Protest, Cox Declines To Bid Again On North Escambia Residential Fiber Internet
December 28, 2022
After filing a formal protest of the first Escambia County bid solicitation award for fiber internet to North Escambia homes and county facilities, Cox Communications has declined to submit a second bid.
The county originally accepted proposals to provide fiber to homes north of 10 Mile Road and approved entering into a memorandum of understanding with Escambia River Electric Cooperative in late November. Cox Communications retained a law firm and filed a formal protest against the award.
The county decided to resolicit bids with a deadline of December 22.
In a letter to Escambia County’s purchasing director, Cox said they “determined that the change in geographical scope with regard to areas of the County be served is much further away from our existing fiber network that reaches to Cantonment. Therefore, after careful consideration, we do not think it is feasible for us to respond to the RFP (request for proposals), as amended.”
The first proposal from EREC included only their electric franchise territory, an area essentially north of Barrineau Park Road. As a member owned electric cooperative, EREC would provide fiber internet service to all 4,000 plus homes and businesses in their territory. In the first round, Cox submitted a proposal to provide broadband internet to about 2,500 homes in unspecified areas north of 10 Mile Road.
The New Request For Proposal
In the new solicitation, Escambia County is seeking a company to provide the high speed broadband in an area from Muscogee Road/Becks Lake Road north to the Alabama state line.
In addition to providing broadband services in unserved and underserved areas of the northern part of the county, the county is seeking an estimated 104 miles of fiber to serve 40 county facilities in the geographic region. The broadband service must be capable of achieving symmetrical residential speeds of 1 GB or greater.
The “leading-edge” broadband services” must also list retail prices and include a rate cap for residential customers for the first three years after connection and specify a maximum annual increase percentage.
Escambia County is committing up to $10 million American Rescue Plan Act funds toward the project, with the company owning and operating the network.
Proposals were due by December 22. The county is expected to review those proposals with a possible award by the county commission coming in January.
Second Phase Coming
Escambia County has committed another $12 million in a second phase for a future fiber to the home buildout and service to county buildings to the south of Muscogee Road.
In their letter to the county, Cox hinted that they will bid on that southern phase.
“Cox remains dedicated to providing connectivity to unserved and underserved areas, and we look forward to future partnerships and competing for opportunities with Escambia County,” the company said.
Comments
13 Responses to “After Protest, Cox Declines To Bid Again On North Escambia Residential Fiber Internet”
It does my heart good to see the residents of Escambia County stand up to face the giant. We need to keep as much of our monthly expenses for services right here in our area where we live, work, and raise our families. GOOD FOR YOU Escambia County citizens. When we ALL band together, we win and our county based businesses win!
@Concerned tax payer
Why are you complaining about cox fees when you pay the HOA membership fees each month/year that is way more than Cox.
When your too hoody doodie and pay for a cult to tell you what you can or can not do..your the problem.
HOA is a thing that people brag they have..pay astronomical fees..to control you.
No sympathy here buuud
Talk about sore losers! They had no intention of providing a cost effective service. What a joke and a waste of time!
The new home internet by most cell companies which is running about 50 bucks a month locked in for ten years. I use it and the last speed test I did was well over 100MEG download and over 20 upload. Thats fast enough to run 4 TVs and a bunch of devices and not have any lag.
Get Elon Musk to drop Starlink in rural areas.
If he’s willing to do it for free for the Ukraine,
why not rural America?
What makes me mad is that in my neighborhood (on Nine Mile Road) we are stuck with Cox because ATT has pulled out or is not allowed to bring in fiber optic. We have no other choice for internet. Our HOA pitches a fit if we try to put up a satellite dish for TV or Internet. We need level the playing field in this county and give all citizens more choice. That will cause the prices to be more competitive. The county leaders need to address this.
@@@Jason—I TOTALLY agree with you!!! We had Cox for a period of time, and every month I was having to call them because the amount due was steadily increasing. Also, I followed ALL the news about the tax increases from the School Board and BCC. After the vote was tallied from the School Board, I called the Representative in my district and informed them that “I would NOT vote for that candidate when time for re-election because they voted to approve the rate increase.” My question was, “how do you overspend $3 million on a budget?” If we don’t stand up for ourselves at election time and tell them we don’t like the way they’re doing things, no one else will!!!
Cox we don’t need you !!! You need us !!! Good bye peroid and go rip someone else off !!!!
COX just wanted to Muddy The Waters and Delay The Process.
I wish EREC would take the Frontier internet that i have maybe it would work right once in a while.
This shows you what kind of company Cox is.
All that whining like a baby,hiring an attorney, you lost before you started.
End story,we did not want you here!!!!!
Spin your end Cox all you want…YOU ARE A WASTE
So Cox complains when EREC is awarded the bid, but then decides not to even place a bid on the second round. Cox has wasted time and county money to repeat the bid process to which they refused to participate.
Sounds like GREAT news. Now, if they could re-bid the area currently controlled by COX in hopes that a little competition might find a way to reduce the ever-growing annual – and in some cases, semi-annual – price increases for the same level of services.
I can assure you, the folks at COX could easily transition into a spot on any government operated entity as they only know one answer – more money from users. Just like our School Board, BCC and ECUA leaders.
Come re-election time, we must not forget all these elected officials who had no issues raising taxes. Its time for them to return to private employment and say good-bye to their government funded paychecks.