Editor’s note: This article is by Mike Faher of the Brattleboro Reformer, in which it was first published Jan. 22, 2014.
BELLOWS FALLS — The scope of Sovernet’s new, $48 million, fiber-optic network can be measured in the sheer number of community institutions it has reached: 115 governmental locations, 108 schools, 42 health-care facilities, 40 libraries and 32 colleges.
Those were some of the statistics mentioned Tuesday morning as Rich Kendall, chief executive officer of the Bellows Falls-based company, proclaimed that the company’s efforts to spread high-speed, fiber-optic data services throughout rural Vermont are nearly finished.
“It is 99 percent complete. We have a few mountain sites that we still need to finish up,” Kendall said.
The company’s evolution intersected several years ago with the availability of federal funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) — otherwise known as the stimulus.
Sovernet landed $33.2 million in federal funding to build an 800-mile fiber-optic network. With U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., visiting on Tuesday, Kendall made it clear that stimulus funding made the fiber project possible.
“We were at the point where we needed to build fiber to be competitive and sustainable, and the ARRA legislation couldn’t have come at a better time for us,” he said.
Later in the day, Welch said Sovernet’s work is a testament to the stimulus program’s success.
“Infrastructure investment is essential to our economic growth,” Welch said during an interview at the Reformer.
But the fiber project was not strictly federally funded. Other support has included $2.1 million from Vermont Telecommunications Authority and $12.2 million of Sovernet’s own money, Kendall said.
Of the project’s total price tag, about $6 million “has gone directly into Vermont businesses” assisting with construction of the fiber-optic line, Kendall said.
“In terms of the economic stimulus of the project, it’s truly been there,” he said. “The money is going back into the state. We’ve hired six or seven new, direct employees, plus the contractors we’ve employed.”
Mike Faher can be reached at mfaher@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 275.
