Fiber Optic Cable Grant To Cover 40 Square Miles | News | newportvermontdailyexpress.com

Senator Peter Welch had an opportunity to use a machine to splice together fiber optic cables. It's not as easy as it sounds. Each cable is the size of a hair. (Photo by Ed Barber)

BRIGHTON- A meeting on Wednesday was hosted at a NEK Broadband warehouse in Brighton to highlight yet another grant award. The grant will fund bringing high speed fiber optic cable to the region. In this case, a $2.8 million Community Connect Grant has been awarded to cover 40 square miles in Essex County. The underserved area is in the Groton and South Ryegate area.

Senator Peter Welch and representatives of Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Becca Balint's offices attended a press conference touting NEK Broadband's ongoing effort to bring high speed cable to every residence and business in the three-county region.

The warehouse was filled with spools of fiber optic cable. There's enough cable to string 500 miles of cable in 2025.

NEK Broadband's chair of the Executive Committee, Nick Anzalone, recalls a meeting held prior to the Covid pandemic which started in 2020. He said a group of 30 people got together with a mission of doing something to improve internet access.

"I didn't expect us to be as successful as we are," Anzalone said. "I'm humbled by the position we are in now."

Anzalone thanked the 100s of volunteers who have worked toward the goal of bringing high speed fiber optic cable to rural communities.

NEK Broadband Executive Director Christa Shute said they serve 71 towns in the Communication Union District (CUD). Recently, NEK Broadband and CVFiber merged; joining forces enables the CUD to be more competitive in the grant award process.

"Fifty towns have infrastructure in place," Shute said. "Most of the towns have pre-construction going on."

The money from the Community Connect Grant aren’t the only funds received. Last month NEK Broadband was awarded $4 million to build additional miles. Prior to that, a matching grant of $21 million was secured.

These grants are "game changers,” said Shute. The funds will cover the cost of building community centers staffed by employees and volunteers.

Senator Welch considers himself as a huge champion of rural communities. He has been supportive of communities that want access to high speed internet.

Vermont's Congressional delegation has worked cooperatively to secure funds for Vermont's rural communities. Welch said they have to redirect funds earmarked for urban areas.

"High speed is crucial," Welch said. "Any broadband has to include rural towns to every last barn; we won't settle for second string."

Welch was adamant rural communities should have high speed fiber optic cable just as urban areas have.

"People in the NEK believe in themselves, where they live, and care for (their) neighbors," Welch said. "You gravitate toward solving problems."

He said the Wednesday event was a celebration of confidence people have in the NEK. Welch said the NEK was meeting the challenge.

Sarah Waring, Executive Director of USDA Rural Development for Vermont and New Hampshire, called Senator Welch the "tip of the spear" talking about the challenges of securing funding. The Groton project covers 525 people in 259 residences and 29 businesses. Without grants, it would be cost prohibitive to establish a fiber optic cable network in such a low density population region.

"Rural electrification is a game changer," Waring said. "Now everyone has it. Today's high speed internet is yesterday's electricity."

Haley Pero, representing Senator Sanders, and Morgan Nichols, representing Congresswoman Becca Balint, agreed the Community Connect Grant will help bring connectivity to the area. They said NEK Broadband has taken on an expensive challenge in which federal funding is critical.

Rob Fish is the deputy director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board, and he said that across the state 218 towns have joined CUDs with the same goal of bringing high speed fiber optic cable to their communities.

The grants enable CUD's to acquire the cable. Vermont placed their orders early, ensuring they were first in line to have the spools of cable shipped to their local CUDs.

As an offshoot of the effort to get Vermont connected is workforce development. Linemen are needed to run the cable as well as maintain the lines. There are programs available to teach linemen how to climb poles, be educated about safety issues, and learn to splice fiber optic cable.

One such program is at the North Country Career Center land lab in Derby, which offers certification programs for linemen.

At the event Senator Welch was given an opportunity to operate a machine that splices the hair thin cables. The first couple of efforts weren't successful, but he was given a third chance after the speeches were over.

Groton is like a desert in which half of the land is a part of the Groton State Forest, said Michael Nahmias who serves on the Groton Planning Commission. The region is underserved or receives no service at all. "Not even cell service."

Nahmias said bringing fiber optic cable to the Groton area is a game changer for the town.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.