[C]overageCo, the tiny and troubled cellular phone company that has been working to bring cellular phone service to parts of rural Vermont, got two pieces of good news on Tuesday: a green light for state funding from the Senate and cooperation from a crucial business partner.
The Senate passed amendments to the budget bill, adding up to $100,000 to pay CoverageCo’s costs for the next year of providing the locations of cellular callers to Vermont’s 911 emergency calling system. And it approved $900,000 in additional capital spending — borrowed money earmarked for longer-term expenses — to pay CoverageCo to install the state’s radios and antennas.
The second piece of good news Tuesday came in the form of confirmation that AT&T would begin using CoverageCo’s system to originate calls in areas where AT&T’s own towers don’t reach. State officials previously had said AT&T had resisted connecting with CoverageCo’s system, because it relies on older, 2G technology, rather than the 4G technology. The earlier technology allows transmission of voice, texts and emails; but not more data-intensive transmissions like maps and video.
VTDigger came across evidence of AT&T’s decision on Monday, using a CoverageCo link to AT&T’s network from the village green in Chelsea, where AT&T’s own network was showing no service. A CoverageCo official on Monday refused to comment on the discovery, saying there would be an announcement later in the week.
AT&T’s name was uttered three times on Tuesday in testimony before the Senate Finance Committee. And later in Senate floor debate, Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin, said a “major national carrier” that had been holding out on linking to CoverageCo., had agreed to begin doing so.
Richard Biby, who had served as CoverageCo’s CEO from 2011 to 2015 and recently returned as interim CEO to try to save the company and his investment in it, confirmed Tuesday that the only major national carrier that had not been roaming via CoverageCo and paying crucial roaming charges to it was AT&T.
Biby was elated at the Senate action and at news that AT&T had agreed to do business with his company.
“I’m so ecstatic I’m having a nice IPA,” Biby said in a telephone interview from Virginia, where he lives. Asked about the company’s prospects, he said, “We’re a lot better than we were yesterday or on Friday.”
The Senate’s action will have to be concurred in by House members of conference committees on the two money bills before those much larger packages are sent to Gov. Phil Scott for his signature.
Clay Purvis, the Public Service Department’s director of telecommunications and connectivity, said Tuesday night that the department is “weighing the value” of the Senate vote. He said the department would have to know more about CoverageCo’s finances before being able to evaluate the impact.
He called the AT&T decision “a positive development. It’s certainly helpful to CoverageCo and to consumers who are AT&T customers and live in those areas.”
CoverageCo had been teetering on the brink of closing down for months if not longer, due to expenses outpacing revenues and to the death in November of its founder, Vanu Bose.
VTDigger reported in March that the company had expanded cellular phone service mainly along Vermont’s highways in 26 towns. Brock said in his Senate remarks that the company had installed 157 state-owned microcells along roads providing service to 370 square miles of the state.
Brock said the aim of the state’s support for the private company was mainly to provide 911 emergency calling in rural areas. The goal is “to protect Vermonters and provide them with this vital service.”
