VTA Supports Broadband Grant to FairPoint

Montpelier — The Vermont Telecommunications Authority (VTA) has announced its intention to award $779,040 in grant funding to FairPoint Communications to extend broadband service in the unserved portions of the towns of Cambridge, Waterville, and Fletcher, Vermont through its Backroads Broadband Program.

 

The grant to FairPoint will help fund the expansion of DSL in those portions of the towns in the Jeffersonville telephone exchange In 2008, FairPoint accepted conditions of the Public Service Board to provide 100% broadband coverage in 51 of its 99 telephone exchanges which did not include the Jeffersonville exchange. The new service will be available to approximately 360 homes in the exchange which have no access to broadband service today. This area represents the largest of the 99 “target communities” for which the VTA sought proposals though the Backroads Broadband program.

 

The VTA was formed by the legislature in 2007 with a mission to bring both broadband and cellular service to unserved and underserved areas of Vermont. Funds for the grant were made available through a state appropriation to the Backroads Broadband program in the Vermont Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2010.

 

“The process to evaluate the Backroads Broadband proposals was complex and difficult, especially after the very large federal broadband stimulus awards were announced last summer,” said Dr. Steven Shepard, Chairman of the VTA Board of Directors.  “However, this award is driven by a desire to fund projects which will effectively deliver broadband to the greatest number of Vermonters. After careful consideration of all the proposals that were received, the FairPoint proposal will have a relatively high level of impact for the dollars spent.”

 

This award will be subject to the finalization of approved grant agreements, and the funds will not be encumbered or disbursed until a detailed itemization of the specific manner in which the funds shall be spent is submitted to the Vermont Senate Committee on Finance, the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General affairs and the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development.