Comcast Cable will have to pay the deposit stipulated by the state for a fiber optic cable the company plans to run through Warren County, after a request to waive the bond was shot down by county supervisors.

A line planned between the cable television and Internet provider’s Monroe and Jackson markets will serve as a backup communications link during service interruptions, said Frances Smith, director of government and regulatory affairs for Comcast in Jackson.

Smith said the company asked for the waiver on the recommendation of ABMB Engineers, the county’s engineering firm of record. A written request to supervisors in March contains no reference to ABMB and was signed by a construction specialist with the company.

On Monday, County Engineer John McKee presented it to the board for consideration like any other request, but told supervisors a waiver was out of the ordinary for a company without a local service area.

“I do want to point out we usually do this for local, providing services,” McKee said. “Comcast, as far as I know, does not provide service.”

The deposit, referred to as a utility bond, is usually included in construction permits granted to utility companies and is used as collateral against any damage to public property if a cable line, natural gas line or similar infrastructure is planned along public roads. It was invoked by the county against Midcontinent Pipeline in 2009 when parts of seven roads were damaged during the natural gas transmission pipeline’s construction.

The line is slated to cross the Mississippi River yards from the old U.S. 80 bridge along a route once used by Adelphia Communications, which went bankrupt in 2006 and had assets bought out by Comcast and Time Warner Cable. From there, initial drawings show it running underground through central Vicksburg, through Bovina via sections of U.S. 80, then east to Jackson. Vicksburg Bridge Commission has a deal on the table to let the Philadelphia, Pa.-based cable giant cross bridge property for $30,000 annually the first year, with 3 percent “escalators” thereafter, chairman Robert Moss confirmed Monday.

District 4 Supervisor Bill Lauderdale motioned against waiving the bond,

“We have rules,” Lauderdale said later.

Comcast is the largest cable provider and home internet service provider in the United States. Its first cable system was in Tupelo, as American Cable Systems, in 1963. Its service areas in Mississippi include Jackson, Hattiesburg, Tupelo/Corinth, and parts of DeSoto and Tate counties. In January, Comcast acquired NBCUniversal for $13.8 billion from General Electric.