Northeast Kingdom Broadband held a celebration Wednesday to announce the latest funding the communications union district had received and commemorate the progress made in building out high-speed internet service across the region.
A large contingent gathered at NEK Broadband’s facility in Island Pond to announce the receipt of $2.85 million in funding through the USDA Rural Development’s Community Connect Grant program. The grant will help fund a $4.1 million project to establish fiber optic broadband service throughout Groton. The project met stringent requirements, including no residences with current service faster than 10 Mbps download speeds.
The event, which included Sen. Peter Welch, representatives from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Becca Balint, and Sarah Waring, the USDA State Director for Rural Development in Vermont and New Hampshire, as well as many members of the NEK Broadband volunteer board, staff from NEK Broadband and its partners, and others, also highlighted the progress NEK Broadband had made to date in terms of miles built, customers signed up and funding secured.
Nick Anzalone, chair of the board of the now merged NEK Broadband and Central Vermont Fiber, the state’s largest CUD that serves 71 communities, recalled years ago when he attended an early meeting of community members trying to figure out how to expand broadband into the rural reaches of the NEK.
“I did not think at that time that we would necessarily be as successful as we have been,” said Anzalone, who highlighted the many people who have worked tirelessly over the years to help establish NEK Broadband, which is now a model for other CUDs. “The amount of funding required for a project of this size is massive. The amount of work, the complexity is just staggering. … And I am just incredibly humbled by the position we find ourselves in now.”
“I don’t know how to express my gratitude and the honor it is to serve an effort like this where we are making a difference for the people in the Northeast Kingdom,” said Anzalone.
As part of the event, the CUD celebrated connecting its first customer in another section of the project that was funded by an earlier USDA – RD grant for nearly $17.5 million through the ReConnect Grant Program, which will help connect the communities in Essex County, and eastern Caledonia and Orleans counties.
NEK Broadband Executive Director Christa Shute noted the progress the CUD had made thus far in both the NEK region and the Central Vermont Fiber service area. Over 50 towns currently have some publicly owned fiber optic infrastructure in place, almost all the towns in the NEK have pre-construction licensing, and half the towns in CV Fiber have pre-construction or construction underway.
Shute also noted recent awards from the Vermont Community Broadband Board, which provided NEK Broadband with a $4 million construction grant to build out more miles and a $21 million grant to serve as a match in an upcoming application for additional federal dollars through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.
As part of the Community Connect grant work covering Groton and a bit in Ryegate and South Peacham, NEK Broadband will develop three community centers staffed by volunteers to help the communities access the internet. The centers will be equipped with computers, private spaces to work or attend telehealth appointments, and training opportunities for how to get and utilize broadband at home. The centers will be at libraries in Groton and Ryegate and in a Rural Edge apartment building in Groton. The community centers are part of NEK Broadband’s digital equity efforts.
Sen. Peter Welch congratulated everyone on hand for all they had accomplished and thanked Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Becca Balint for helping secure the funding for rural broadband.
“Folks in big urban areas didn’t understand that our goal was to make the center of the internet universe the Northeast Kingdom,” Welch joked, noting how COVID reinforced how essential high-speed internet was to everyone. “You cannot leave rural America behind.”
“People in the Kingdom believe in themselves. They believe in the value of where they live and what they do. They believe in the strength of their neighbors and communities,” he said. “Isn’t America a better place if we had that kind of Kingdom drive, where it’s about getting things done?” he said while commending all the “highly paid” volunteers who had helped NEK Broadband succeed.
Sarah Waring, USDA – Rural Development State Director for Vermont and New Hampshire, recalled growing up in the Kingdom and the dial up internet her family had, so it was thrilling to play a part in bringing broadband to the region and the people she grew up with.
“Among the many things we learned over the last few years, is that having reliable online access should be seen as a human right for everyone—especially those living in our remotest rural communities,” said Waring. “Securing important goods and services, and simply being connected to friends and family, can no longer be a hit-or-miss proposition that depends on your area code. We all know the stories of kids at home who can’t access school assignments, or small businesses who can’t make online sales, or the inadequate delivery of telemedicine where there’s no high-speed internet access. That’s why I am so proud that the Biden-Harris Administration continues to send a clear and resounding message to our neighbors in this remote corner of our state: we’re here, with your local providers, working hard to get you connected.”
Rob Fish, Deputy Director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board, highlighted the many ways in which NEK Broadband had been at the forefront of the recent CUD movement and had been a model for Vermont’s other CUDs in terms of securing funding sources, workforce training efforts, and much more.
“They are a model for what is happening around the country,” said Fish.
Michael Nahmais, Groton’s Planning Commission chair, explained the impact that broadband would have on their community and commended Michael Gaiss, Groton’s representative on the Governing Board of NEK Broadband, for the huge amount of work he put into helping secure the grant that will speed the broadband development in the town.
NEK Broadband has already built hundreds of miles of fiber, with many more miles about to be lit up and well over 500 planned for next year alone.
“We are already at 1,000 customers and that’s something for all of us to be really proud of,” said Shute.
Story Written by Andrew McGregor, Caledonian Record