Shumlin calls in publicity for Sugarbush, Verizon and state’s broadband expansion effort

Peter Shumlin. VTD/Andrew Nemethy

WARREN — It’s rare, if ever, that a news conference by Gov. Peter Shumlin includes a cell phone call with reporters listening in.

But that gimmick capped a meeting with news media Friday and dialed up the publicity for a big step in connectivity at the Sugarbush ski resort: The ski area was now connected to fast and data-heavy 3G cell phone service, thanks to installation of a cell tower at the ski area by Verizon Wireless.

Standing outside in the snow without a jacket at the base of the Sugarbush Resort, surrounded by TV cameras, the governor called his Democratic counterpart in Maryland, Gov. Martin O’Malley, to prove the service works (and to promote downhill skiing, of course).

Beyond the photo-op was a serious point Gov. Shumlin and others made in the warmer confines of the Timbers Restaurant at the resort. Vermont, he said, is working hard to meet both its 2013 deadline for universal broadband coverage and to expand cell coverage that he said is “critical to jobs, tourism, safety and industry.”

Shumlin said the need for better cell coverage was made abundantly clear by Tropical Storm Irene, “where whole communities were isolated from civilization because Vermont is not adequately connected.”

Rep. Adam Greshin, an independent from Warren and co-owner of Sugarbush, said the days when tourists and skiers wanted a quiet getaway to reconnect with friends and family are gone. Once you could sell that “quaint” idea as a “badge of honor,” but now having cell service has moved from a convenience to a business necessity, he said.

“The reality is our customers expect, indeed demand, to be connected,” he said.

Verizon Wireless said it has invested more than $3 billion in the New England network since 2000, and it continues to expand its network and capacity in Vermont. The new cell tower, barely visible on a hill to the north of the main base area, will allow skiers to get weather and snow condition reports, download trail maps, and share photos all from the slopes, said Christine Berberich of Verizon Wireless.

“The most sophisticated device is only as good as the network it runs on,” she said. She declined to say what the tower costs but said they can be expensive, running in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to install. The new tower at Sugarbush replaces a temporary tower that provided only spotty coverage around the area.

Greshin said the improved coverage has “liberated modern families or groups to explore the mountain on their own,” he said.

Parker Riehle, president of the Vermont Ski Areas Association, said Vermont’s downhill areas are all cellphone-covered to varying degrees with a “mix and match” between Verizon and AT&T. The association is always looking to improve coverage with as many carriers as possible, he said, because visitors have “that marketplace expectation.”

He noted VSAA itself has its own App for Droid phones and is expecting to launch the App on iPhones in the future. Individual ski areas already have or are adding their own Apps too.

“That’s definitely another thing on the rise,” he said.

According to Karen Marshall, head of ConnectVT, which has been charged by Gov. Shumlin with meeting a goal of providing universal broadband by 2013 and expanding cell service, a 2010 survey by the Vermont Department of Public Service showed more than 80 percent of Vermont households have a cell phone. But Vermont’s rolling valleys and hills make extending cell coverage difficult, she said.

“One of our major challenges is our nooks-and-crannies roads,” Marshall said.

The state has identified “over 100 dropped signal” corridors, Marshall said, and the department is working with cell providers to fill in the gaps. In the hardest to reach areas, the state is turning to a promising new “cutting edge” technology using “microcell” towers and working in partnership with VTel in Springfield and Cambridge, Mass.-based Vanu Coverage Co., which also is working on cell expansion in other parts of rural New England.

Through the Vermont Telecommunications Authority, the state is negotiating a $4 million contract with Vanu and $2.4 million with VTel, she said. Those funds are part of $10 million allocated to the Authority to achieve universal broadband and cell phone coverage expansion.

Asked how much the state is pressing to accomplish the 2013 broadband deadline, the governor quipped, “That fire is so hot.”

He said the harsh truth was Vermont can’t compete and provide jobs “if we continue to be in the middle ages.”

In other news:

– Shumlin said the state was “days” away from announcing a plan to replace the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury, which was flooded out by Tropical Storm Irene.

– He declined to respond to barbs by Sen. Randy Brock, who announced Wednesday he would run as GOP candidate for governor. Shumlin said he’d only been in office 11 months and it was too soon get into politics or even to say whether he would run again for governor.