$12M IN FEDERAL FUNDING TO BRING FIBER OPTIC INTERNET TO TWO DOZEN GRAFTON COUNTY TOWNS
Nearly $12 million from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration will be combined with roughly $5 million the Grafton County Commissioners unanimously voted to spend in September to establish a “Middle Mile” fund that brings fiber optic cables to community hubs, such as town halls.
From town halls, municipal leaders will be responsible for finding funding — including applying for grants — to build out the network to the rest of the community.
“This is a project that would bring that high-speed fiber optic service into communities that don’t have it,” Grafton County Commissioner Wendy Piper, of Enfield, said in a phone interview. “That’s why we felt as commissioners that we could make this decision using taxpayer funding. That our whole county could grow and develop.”
Among the 24 towns that will benefit from the grant, four are in the Upper Valley: Grafton, Haverhill, Orange and Orford. Before starting construction, the county must complete an environmental assessment, which County Administrator Julie Libby estimated will take around six months. The majority of the fiber optic cables will be strung on existing telephone poles, with around 4% of the lines buried, Libby said.
“I can imagine that in the spring we’ll be ready to start construction,” Libby said during a phone interview. “When it’s finished, it will allow internet service providers to work with communities (and) towns to build out the ‘Last Mile,’ which would be the connection that gets to the homes.”
The “Middle Mile” will be built by EX2 Technology Management of Omaha, Neb., which has also designed the project, she said. While Grafton County will initially own the fiber optic cables once the project is complete, officials are planning on putting out a request for proposals to internet providers to “find partners that we will work with in potentially taking ownership of the network at some point in the future,” Libby said.
— LIZ SAUCHELLI/VALLEY NEWS
