BRATTLEBORO — On July 2, federal agencies awarded two Vermont telecommunications organizations $47.1 million in federal economic recovery grants to build fiber optic networks that will help form the core of Vermont's broadband Internet network.
The grants are the largest public investment in broadband infrastructure ever made in Vermont.
The National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) is awarding a $33.4 million grant to the Vermont Telecommunications Authority (VTA) and a $13.7 million grant to the Vermont Telephone Company (VTEL) through NTIA's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).
The two grants are part of a $7.2 billion broadband investment program that Congress and President Obama crafted as part of last year's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Both grants are awarded through BTOP's Comprehensive Community Infrastructure program, under which NTIA, according the agency, solicited “projects to deploy new or improved broadband internet facilities and to connect 'community anchor institutions' such as schools, libraries, hospitals, and public safety facilities. These networks help ensure sustainable community growth and provide the foundation for enhanced household and business broadband internet services.”
The VTA and Sovernet Communications' public-private partnership, Vermont FiberConnect, will receive a $33.4 million grant from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program to allow Sovernet to develop, own, maintain and operate a 773 mile fiber-optic middle mile network in southern, central and northeastern Vermont.
Springfield-based VTEL will use its $13.7 million grant to create an open-network middle-mile hub-and-spoke fiber network to schools, colleges, public safety facilities, health care facilities, and telecommunications providers.
The project will connect over 340 community anchor institutions in the project area, including state-owned buildings, public safety towers and all public and private K-12 schools, public libraries and colleges that elect to participate in the project.
Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro has been designated as one of the 53 libraries to receive the expanded fiber optic service, according to library director Jerry Carbone.
“This will mean more bandwidth for a whole host of activities that we currently cannot sustain,” Carbone said. “Right now, we have about 1100 MB DSL bandwidth for 18 public access computers and 13 staff computers. Many times during the day, the staff or public cannot get to websites or even send e-mail.”
Carbone said the new fiber optic service will offer speeds up to 1 gigabyte speeds, “or 1,000 times what we have now. I am very pleased.”
Sovernet Communications,is the sole sub-recipient of the grant, through its Sovernet Fiber Corporation subsidiary, and will coordinate with the NTIA through the VTA.
“This network will provide major support for the VTA's efforts to expand broadband and cellular service throughout unserved areas of Vermont,” said VTA executive director Christopher Campbell. “It also breaks new ground by promising to offer these community institutions tremendously abundant bandwidth at rates they can afford.”
In addition to the VTA grant, Sovernet, a leading communications provider in Vermont, will invest more than $11 million in the project, building a fiber-optic middle mile network, providing data transport services up to 1 gigabyte to community anchor institutions, government agencies, and last mile providers throughout the project area.
Additionally, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will contribute a grant award of $400,000 to this project to build public library connections, as well as $150,000 to support on-going broadband service in libraries. Transport services will be available to the anchor institutions at lower prices and with greater bandwidth than is commonly available in these communities, ensuring that Vermont's technological capabilities are on par with the rest of the country.
Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, pressed for inclusion of broadband infrastructure funding during drafting of the economic recovery package.
“These federal investments are the largest public investments in boosting broadband access in Vermont's history, and the benefits will ripple throughout our economy, bringing lightning-fast bandwidth much closer to end users. Both VTA and VTEL will lay fiber where it does not exist today. This is the vital first step in delivering state-of-the-art broadband service to every Vermonter.”
“Every day, I hear from Vermonters upset about inadequate broadband service in our state,” said Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has long been an advocate of affordable and universal broadband service. “This $47 million award of federal grants will bring Vermont broadband service into the 21st century. It will improve our business climate and help our schools, colleges, hospitals and other medical facilities perform better. It must also pave the way for reasonably-priced broadband services for virtually every household in the state of Vermont.”
“It is no overstatement to say that the future of Vermont's economy depends upon the swift and complete deployment of broadband throughout our state. Yet Vermont continues to lag behind, preventing families, businesses, schools and hospitals from joining the digital age,” said Vermont Rep. Peter Welch, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet. “This grant is a major boost to Vermont's communications infrastructure. It will provide broadband access to key institutions and bring us closer to our goal of a truly connected state.”
“Ensuring that all Vermonters have access to broadband service is a top priority of mine,” said Gov. Jim Douglas. “We've been working hard to achieve that goal through the e-State initiative, the VTA and support of other broadband initiatives.”
Douglas, who launched the e-State initiative in 2007 that led to the creation of the VTA, noted that during the past legislative session Vermont invested $2 million in the Capital Bill that will contribute to this project and another nearly $3 million for his Backroads Broadband program to help service those hardest to reach Vermonters.
“The success of this application is the result of so many working together with a shared vision. As a result we are closer to achieving our goal, while creating jobs today and strengthening our economy for the future,” Douglas added.
The July 2 announcement complements an announcement Leahy, Sanders and Welch made earlier this year of a $69 million Department of Energy American Recovery and Reinvestment Act smart grid grant. That grant will be used to deploy technology, including high-speed internet access and fiber optic infrastructure, to better manage power demand and supply.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service, which also solicited applications for broadband infrastructure funding as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has not yet announced if any Vermont applicants will receive funding.