State looks to use stimulus bucks to expand broadband

Boston Business Journal
May 8, 2009
By Jackie Noblett

The new leader of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute said there is interest by the business community in providing high-speed Internet to unserved areas in western Massachusetts, and she hopes to use federal stimulus dollars to make it happen soon.

State Commissioner of Telecommunications and Cable Sharon Gillett is now charged with leading the state’s efforts to build partnerships with private Internet service providers to expand broadband access to every community in the state, as well as unserved portions of communities that have partial high-speed access. The institute will also coordinate the state’s efforts to win millions of dollars in stimulus funds for broadband expansion, which will need to move quickly to meet federal use-it or lose-it provisions.

“We would like Massachusetts to be very competitive in those grant awards,” Gillett said. “The legislation, I think, in a sense expanded the reach of the institute beyond providing access to unserved areas.”

Stimulus funds could go not only to unserved areas, but to so-called “underserved” populations including ones that have broadband but don’t access it to its fullest potential.

Established as a part of the Legislature’s broadband bill last year, the institute under the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative is mandated to make affordable broadband available to municipalities and neighborhoods that do not have access to the service

There are 10 towns, six in Berkshire County and four in Franklin County, that have no access to high-speed Internet, and 58 more that are only partially serviced by broadband providers.

Accompanying the mandate was $40 million in state bonding authority to build high-speed infrastructure — whether it be underground fiber-optic or coaxial cable for land line service, or routers and other boxes for wireless systems — in conjunction with private operators and service providers. This money has yet to be released, however, and some insiders say ownership of the new infrastructure is a sticking point.

Gillett said there has not been a lack of interest by private entities to build in western Massachusetts. Indeed, the group received two dozen responses, from both large telecommunications and cable companies and small nonprofits, to a “request for solutions” on how to serve the communities. The ideas ranged from using state bonds to build and lease fiber cable built along state roads to wireless boxes in public facilities.

The challenges of connecting the most rural parts of the state to high-speed Internet span from topography to economy, and Gillett said there will likely be different solutions and different providers depending on the area.

Some of the work to expand service in unserved areas has already taken place.

Verizon Communications Inc. finished a rollout of broadband DSL Internet in 24 unserved communities in October. The service extends to, on average, 70 percent of residents in those communities. As for its plans for additional work in western Massachusetts, company executives are interested and exploring ways to work with the institute on other projects, said Verizon spokesman Phil Santoro.