ECFiber continued its unique funding process by closing on the sale of$510,000of privately placed promissory notes, purchased by36different individuals. This included $200,000 that ECFiber was asked to contribute to the 51 mile Business Broadband Improvement District (BBID) project the Vermont Telecommunications Authority (VTA) announcedJune 30, to connect BBIDs in Braintree, Brookfield, North Randolph, Pomfret and Sharon.
According to ECFiber CEO, Stan Williams, “The combination of the VTA’s projects and our own planned expansion will allow us to have a presence in 19 of our 24 member towns, and will provide an excellent base on which to expand within these towns as well as our remaining uncovered member towns.”
“We’re pleased that ECFiber was able to meet the fund-raising goal for these projects,” said Chris Campbell, Executive Director of the VTA. “This is an important step in making it possible for many small business to have access to the improved broadband internet services that are vital to their success.”
The September closing was the third of four that ECFiber is planning for 2014 and increases the total raised this year to $977,500including the funds allocated to the VTA’s BBID project. A fourth closing is planned for this December. Since it began funding and building in late 2010, ECFiber has raised in excess of $5.8 million in capital and connected 850 residential and business customers on close to 200 miles of network.
ECFiber is a consortium of 24 towns inEast-Central Vermont. Step by step, we are building a community-owned fiber-optic network to deliver high-speed Internet to every home, business, or civic institution in our territory. ECFiber offers symmetrical internet access at speeds of up to 400 Mbps as well as phone service with unlimited USA and Canada calling.
For more information, please visithttp://www.ecfiber.net/.