State Broadband Network To Connect With North Adams 'Anchors'
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city will have brand-new fiberwire by July 2013 connecting about two dozen "community anchors" to the massive broadband network the state is installing in its quest to bring high-speed Internet to all corners.Director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute Judith Dumont met Wednesday afternoon with city and education officials to provide a review the first year of the project that is expected to be the backbone of the initiative. The core network will connect the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, all of the city's elementary and high schools, the library, the police and fire departments and various other government buildings. Eventually, the network is expected to expand into the areas of the state that do not currently have high-speed Internet.
"This is a very important first step," Dumont said. "This is allowing that necessary infrastructure to be in place."
She said the public facilities are not required to serve as connection points for later expansion nor does the anchor have to pay for the installation. MBI will pay the construction costs for the network and bring the wire in, install a network box and possibly even do some construction to make room for the box. The anchor will then pay a provider for the service.
"That's where the free ride ends," Dumont said.
The group is a year into the three-year project, paid through a $45.4 million federal grant that aims to bring broadband to the entire state, particularly the underserved areas in Western Mass. The network is expected to span more than 1,000 miles through 120 communities throughout Western and central Massachusetts. Six providers have already signed up to use the network but many more are expected to join and help finish off the "last mile" into the remote areas.
"It won't be done by [2013]. It will have a longer tail," Dumont said.
The institute has been and will continue to offer grants to towns and organizations to help build out from the main network. Currently, the group is determining the areas that will prove to be the most difficult to focus their resources. The main network will help reduce the costs for Internet providers to expand and the grants will help create public/private partnerships to do so. The group is also working with other organizations such as the Small Business Authority to develop more incentives.
"We don't want the headline to be 'if we build it they will come,'" Dumont said. "We have a whole program for the last mile."
In this first year, the institute has created a community team consisting of representatives from all of the participating communities, selected its project team — which includes Axia NGNetworks USA as network operator and G4S Technology to build it — secured environmental approvals, began signing agreements with utility pole owners for access and began analyzing if the poles will need need additional work.
"We surveyed 95 percent of the poles. We have received estimates back from the pole owners for about 30 percent of them," Dumont said, and joked about how complicated the agreements surrounding utility poles are. "I'll never look at a utility pole the same."
About 35,000 utility poles need to be looked at to determine if there is enough room to run the wire and how the work would be done safely, she said. While it may not sound exciting, local officials were elated by the progress that has been made after nearly a decade of pushing for an expanded broadband system.
"This is fantastic," said Daniel Bosley, former state representative and strong advocate of the initiative.
The institute will also put some money aside to provide upkeep to the system and Axia has committed $35 million to $45 million to operate and extend the network.
More information is available below.
North Adams Anchors Connecting to Broadband
Broadband Presentation North Adams
Tags: broadband, Internet,
