New Castle County residents living in cellular dead zones will wait a little longer for reliable service.
The county announced in August it was seeking bids for the construction and service of three new cellular towers.
One new tower is still set to be in the Hockessin area, and the other two in the Middletown and Odessa areas.
It's an effort to meet the increasing need for reliable cellular service for residents, and to bolster the county’s emergency response capabilities.
But the timeline for when those towers will be ready is shifting.
The original Request for Proposal window ended in late September, but New Castle County Director of Strategic Communications Brian Cunningham says a re-bid became necessary when no wireless carrier responded to the initial bid for the Odessa and Middletown locations.
The county aimed to strike a deal with a wireless carrier and not a tower company who leases tower space.
The re-bid will include updated language to broaden options for construction in the Middletown and Odessa areas.
Contract negotiations for the Hockessin location are underway and are expected to be completed by the end of the month.
The cell towers will be built using $1.3 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.
