ECFiber Project - Randolph (In Progress), Norwich & Thetford (Complete)

The Vermont Telecommunications Authority(VTA) has announced a broadband grant to ECFiber of $167,569. The award will help the company build fiber-optic facilities and offer broadband Internet services to locations currently without access. The VTAs target grant areas include 17 addresses near the Norwich-Thetford town line as well as other locations in Norwich.

An additional grant of $38,574 will bring service to locations that have proven challenging to serve in Randolph.

Locations to be served by the grant will have access to broadband Internet service at symmetrical speeds of 5, 10 and 20 Mbps. These exceed the grant’s minimum requirement to offer a combined upload and download speed of 5 Mbps.

ECFiber has entered into a fiber strand lease agreement with the VTA and has connected its own fiber optic lines to the VTAs 36-mile Orange County Fiber Connector (OCFC) project. OCFC brings communications infrastructure to one of the most underserved areas in Vermont. It was designed to enable service providers to easily bring last-mile service to homes and businesses.

The VTA made the award as part of the first phase of the February 1, 2013, Notice of Grant Funding for incentives to broadband providers for more difficult to reach locations. Funding was made possible by an appropriation of the Legislature in the FY2012-2013 Capital Budget. It was requested by Governor Peter Shumlin as part of the Connect VT initiative.

Where Will Expansion Take Place?

The list of eligible locations was compiled using data collected from broadband providers through Vermont’s Broadband Mapping Initiative.

The VTAs target grant areas include 17 addresses near the Norwich-Thetford town line as well as other locations in Norwich. They also include four addresses in Randolph.

In Union Village of Thetford, new service is available to addresses on Main Street.  This is complete.

New service is available in Norwich, along currently unserved locations on:

Bragg Hill Road, Complete

Cossingham Road, Complete

Kerwin Hill Road, Complete

New Boston Road, Complete

and Route 132. Complete

In Randolph, new service will be made available to unserved addresses on Crocker and Kingsbury Roads, and Barbara Lee Lane.

The Randolph addresses are due to be complete on or before September 1, 2014.