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Gov. Phil Scott announced on Friday $48 million in new grants to the state’s communications union districts, the municipal organizations working to connect homes that are without a reliable wireline connection to fiber-optic cable.
Vermont has an ambitious plan that combines private investment and public funds to connect every resident with fiber-optic cable.
For the largely rural regions of the state without access to high-speed internet, Vermont is relying on a strategy of allowing municipalities to band together into communications union districts to build fiber-optic service.
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Christine Hallquist, executive director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board, said including the $48 million announced Friday, the organization has awarded $96 million in grants to these communications union districts since last August. That figure includes $9.2 million to buy materials up to a year ahead of time in an effort to avoid supply-chain problems and to lock in prices during a period of inflation.
“Vermont is leading most other states in broadband development, “ Scott said at a press conference in East Montpelier.
Several communications union districts around the state received funding Friday.
DV Fiber, which serves southeastern Vermont, received $21.9 million.
CV Fiber’s chair, Jerry Diamantides, said at the governor’s press conference that his district will use its $12.3 million grant to build 400 miles of fiber-optic cable lines over the next 12 to 18 months in the central Vermont area served by the district.
Maple Broadband, a district of 20 municipalities in Addison County, will build out 180 miles with its $8.69 million grant, according to the district’s vice chair, Ellie de Villiers.
NEK Broadband received $5 million to connect four towns that voted to use federal pandemic funds to build broadband: Groton, Peacham, Ryegate and Walden. The grant will also fund additional infrastructure in three other municipalities: Danville, Lyndon and Saint Johnsbury. NEK has thus far received $20.9 million toward its goal of connecting 2,978 customers.
Altogether, the grants will fund the construction of 1,400 miles of fiber-optic cable in 29 towns, according to a press release from the Vermont Community Broadband Board.
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Fred Thys covers business and the economy for VTDigger. He is originally from Bethesda, Maryland, and graduated from Williams College with a degree in political science. He is the recipient of the Radio, Television, and Digital News Association's Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting and for Enterprise Reporting. Fred has worked at The Journal of Commerce, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, NBC News, and WBUR, and has written for Le Matin, The Dallas Morning News, and The American Homefront Project.
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