47 towns will eventually be served by fiber-to-the-home service
Relief may soon be on the way for towns in Western Massachusetts who have long suffered through being stuck on dial-up connections.
Relief may soon be on the way for towns in western Massachusetts that have long suffered through being stuck on dial-up connections.
Agencies announce $795 million in new broadband subsidies
That’s because the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, a division of the state’s economic development agency, just scored $45.4 million in federal stimulus funds to build out a middle-mile broadband network in western Massachusetts that will be hooked up to a last-mile network that will bring high-speed Internet connections to 47 towns in the region. In addition to the $45.4 million secured from federal broadband stimulus grants, the project has also received $26.2 million from the Massachusetts state government, bringing the total government investment in the project to $71.6 million.
The last-mile network is currently being planned by WiredWest, a volunteer-backed initiative that’s working with western Massachusetts towns to deliver a fiber-to-the-home network that gives residents connections that will reach speeds at least as high as Verizon’s FiOS service.
“We have looked at other type of technologies available,” says Monica Webb, the spokesperson for the project’s volunteer committee. “And in terms of resource input and the longevity of the systems, we decided that fiber was our best future-proof long-term option.”
But while the MBI has secured funding to build out its middle-mile network, WiredWest is still looking at how to raise money to build out the last mile. Currently WiredWest is experimenting with different business models to figure out the best way to raise capital for the project, whether it’s through issuing municipal bonds or raising money from residents who will then act as shareholders in the network. Eventually, Webb says the network will be run similarly to a public utility company, with WiredWest leasing out space on the network for ISPs to deliver services to customers in the region. In other words, if the ISPs won’t bring the network to western Massachusetts, WireWest will bring the network to them.
For the past decade, the group has tried to coax incumbent carriers to build broadband services in western Massachusetts. But because of the area’s hilly terrain and low population density, the incumbents didn’t find it economical to spend resources bringing broadband out to the Berkshires and beyond.
“We tried everything to appease the incumbent carriers but they’re not accountable to desperate rural residents,” explains Webb, who moved to western Massachusetts from Toronto in 2002. “I came here not realizing that I wouldn’t have access to 21st century Internet technology.”
Now that MBI has secured funding to build out its middle-mile network, it will implement a 30-month timeline to get the network built out and ready for use. And while WiredWest has yet to figure out how to fund its network, the group hopes to mirror MBI and build out last mile connectivity in areas as soon as the middle-mile network comes online.
The western Massachusetts project was given the green light late last week by the federal government, which had designated $7.2 billion to fund broadband infrastructure investment in its economic stimulus package. Of that money, $4.7 billion has been allotted to the NTIA to award grants for projects that will build out broadband infrastructure in unserved or underserved areas, to deliver broadband capabilities for public safety agencies and to stimulate broadband demand through training and education. The remaining $2.5 billion in broadband stimulus money has been allotted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make loans to companies building out broadband infrastructure in rural areas.
