Governor Patrick and members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation announce the Commonwealth has been awarded $45.4 million in federal stimulus funding to expand broadband access.
The federal grant funding will be supplemented by $26.2 million in matching funds from the Commonwealth, bringing the total investment in the project to $71.6 million. This will enable a robust middle-mile network to be built by the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) in Western and North-Central Massachusetts that will serve 123 communities. This wholesale network will bring high-capacity fiber into the center of every town and connect community anchor institutions in Western Massachusetts. WiredWest‘s proposed last-mile network would connect to the MBI’s fiber – but most importantly – would then extend fiber-optic connectivity out to individual homes, businesses and institutions in unserved and underserved towns.
“We are pleased the MBI received the grant, because it’s a giant step towards drastically improved connectivity for the region, and directly enables the mission of WiredWest,” said Monica Webb, WiredWest spokeswoman. “Essentially, the State is bringing high-bandwidth connectivity into key points in our region, and WiredWest, in participating towns, would extend outward from there.”
The affect the lack of connectivity has been of particular concern for businesses and the regional economy, and as a result, businesspeople are particularly anxious to see the results of the MBI’s middle mile, and WiredWest’s last mile fiber connectivity. Doug Trumbull, Oscar-winning filmmaker and visual effects pioneer, works out of New Marlborough and is a great example of the potential economic impact fiber to the home would have for our region, “I am working on advanced motion picture Virtual Set technology that could help our area attract sophisticated producers. I am severely limited in what can be accomplished in terms of hiring people, doing advanced production, and living up to my own expectations of cutting edge work.”
Indeed, WiredWest believes fiber-optic connectivity is the most critical initiative to enable businesses of all sizes in our region, including home-based businesses, to survive and thrive in the 21st century economy. To that end, the WiredWest network pledges to bring connectivity to all homes and businesses that want it in our participating towns.
WiredWest’s mission is to build and operate a universal, open-access, fiber-to-the-home network that is financially self-sustaining and community-owned. We believe this type of network would fundamentally improve the prospects for our communities, ensuring they remain diverse, vibrant and prosperous today, tomorrow, and for the foreseeable future. To find out more about the WiredWest project, please see Click here!
