Bartholomew rural fiber installation stalled by contractor bankruptcy

The rollout of fiber optic internet to Bartholomew County residents has been slowed but is not ending after the bankruptcy of a contractor for the project.

Officials with Hoosier Fiber Networks updated the Bartholomew County Commissioners on the project to provide rural broadband Internet access to the county yesterday, saying that the project continues despite the bankruptcy of the installation contractor working here. Dave Brodin, CEO of Hoosier Fiber said that contractor, Trueline, notified Hoosier Fiber about three weeks ago that it was winding down its Indiana operations and he later found they were shutting down nationwide.

Since then the Bloomington-based Hoosier Fiber has been focused on ensuring the safety and security of all worksites and fixing any issues for homeowners after the stoppage.

Brodin said that the contractor had posted a surety bond towards completion and Hoosier Fiber is now working with the surety company to get work started again as soon as possible with a new contractor.

So far, more than 97 miles of fiber have been installed in rural Bartholomew County offering service to 2,800 residences in the community, Brodin said.

The county government put up $4 million dollars as an incentive to bring a company here to provide fiber to 80 percent of the county’s rural households. That money came from COVID-19 relief funds and must be spent by the end of next year. Brodin said he has stressed with the surety company the importance of hitting that 80 percent completion benchmark in order to meet that funding deadline.