Thanks to David Russell for passing on a recent article from the Burlington Free Press (Rural towns bundling a blueprint for broadband). It tracks the process of East Central Vermont Community Fiber Network, a group of 22 rural communities in Vermont and their goal to get fiber.
To take a step back – Tim Nulty, is the chief consultant to the East Central Vermont Group. He spoke at the Blandin Broadband conference about his success developing and deploying broadband in Burlington Vermont. He recently left Burlington Telecom and is using some of the same strategies with the East Central Group.
According to the article the Group has “an agreement between towns; an agreement to design, build and operate the network; and a capital financing lease.” They presented to the board meeting of the Vermont Telecommunications Authority last week. The presenters made no funding requests but asked the state board for support with credit and regulatory hurdles.
I love it when things I’ve been saying for years come closer to reality. The telecos and cable companies have been screwing us rural Vermonters for years now. There are many areas of Vermont that still don’t have cable television, never mind broadband internet. Any number of utility companies could have invested some of the millions they’ve made by providing crappy service over the years. Instead they relied on bogus arguments and empty promises to shun people who simply want access to services that so called “third world countries” already provide at a much cheaper cost.
You can read more of my opinion on my blog…
Cid,
Thanks for your post – it was very interesting to read your firsthand account in Vermont.
You bring up the third world nations that apparently have broadband – when lots of rural areas in Vermont (or Minnesota or throughout the US) don’t. It seem like perhaps other nations have leapfrogged over our infrastructure because we didn’t have support from many incumbents – especially in rural areas. It seems like a short-sighted approach as customers find alternative providers – also if a rising tide lift all boats surely the ebbing tide of slow broadband has stalled all of our boats.
Thanks! Ann
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Thanks for your blog and nice to read this blog.Broadband becomes a common networking root for all people.Broadband facility is spreading to many rural areas also.