A written agreement between Decatur County and Point Broadband, a newly formed company partnered with the former Turner Broadband, was approved at the Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday.

The agreement specifies how Point Broadband can use county towers to attach broadband equipment to, the county’s responsibilities and other compensation details between the two parties.

Point Broadband, recently formed through ITC Capital Partners, LLC in West Point, Georgia, has plans to launch services across three states. ITC Capital Partners has 130 years of experience in the telecommunications field. Point Broadband COO Jason Gauntt is confident the services to will be competitive and affordable.

“It is not an automatically renewing contract. It’s for a period of five years,” Decatur County Administrator Alan Thomas said. “The position we have taken on that is over a five-year period, we would desire the board renegotiate at that time with Point.”

The agreement states Point Broadband will promptly proceed with installing its equipment to Decatur County towers to provide service to customers. In exchange for use of the three towers, Decatur County will receive two internet connections, totaling six.

Point Broadband is required to pay for all electrical service installation at the tower sites. If Point Broadband ever wants to change or upgrade anything on the towers, it has to be approved by the Board of Commissioners prior.

“It also says Point give notification to our 911 system before accessing the towers for any purpose,” Thomas added.

After the first year, Decatur County can terminate the agreement with a 365-day written notice.

Point will invest more than $500,000 in capital for the upgrade of the wireless broadband network in the area, the agreement states. Upgrades to current equipment to improve the customer experience in the area is expected within between 60 to 90 days.

The new service equipment must not structurally damage or hinder to tower from its other operations.

“Actually, the weight will be less than what is on there now,” Thomas said.

An agreement between Shane Turner of Turner Broadband and Point Broadband was reached in February. With the partnership formalized, Gauntt said customers around Decatur County will begin to see marketing initiatives and a strong community presence.

“Our involvement in the community starts now,” Gauntt said to the Board of Commissioners in February. “We will be reaching out to the chamber, and we will be participating in the functions of the county.”