Vermont Business Magazine The Public Service Department through its Division of Telecommunications and Connectivity today announced that 12 rural, underserved Vermont communities are getting financial help to boost broadband Internet speeds. Internet service providers Waitsfield/Champlain Valley Telecom, ECFiber, Southern Vermont Broadband Cooperative, Pear Networks, and FairPoint Communications were awarded a total of $558,633 in Connectivity Initiative grant funding to expand access to broadband to 466 underserved locations in the towns of Readsboro, Peru, Stockbridge, Royalton, Lowell, Randolph, Chelsea, Sharon, Craftsbury, Canaan, Charlotte and Norwich.
These awards were made competitively after review of 71 eligible project proposals totaling $4,950,482 in grant funds requested. The Department selected the best proposals based on the RFP criteria; however, an additional 49 projects serving an additional 2162 locations could have been awarded grants if funding had been available.
“This is the second year that the Department has awarded Connectivity Initiative grants. This round of grants enables providers to bring high speed internet to communities with some of the hardest to serve locations, both in terms of cost and terrain,” said Public Service Commissioner Christopher Recchia. He added, “Access to broadband at increasingly improved speeds is essential for all community members and Vermont’s competitiveness, from small business owners to students doing homework. We are extremely pleased with the quality, number, and competitiveness of these proposals, and hope that in the upcoming year the legislature continues to support this important broadband initiative,” Recchia concluded.
This is the first of two planned grant award rounds from the Connectivity Initiative during 2016. An RFP for the next grant round is expected to be issued later in the fall. Funding for the second round will come from a $300,000 appropriation included in the FY2017 Capital Budget Adjustment Act passed during the last legislative session, and $253,550 from the Vermont Universal Service Fund.
The Connectivity Initiative was signed into law in June 2014 to help spur last mile investment in rural broadband networks. In 2015, the Connectivity Initiative provided $885,943 in grant funding for broadband deployment initiatives.
Source: Vermont Public Service Department 10.12.2016