Editor’s note: This commentary is by Tim Wilkerson, who is president and CEO of the New England Cable and Telecommunications Association, a regional trade association representing substantially all private cable telecommunications companies in all the New England states except Maine.
During this unprecedented crisis, when we’re living and working at home, our ability to access information, education and sometimes even food is reliant on our connection to the internet.
As broadband service providers, we know that our greatest obligation is to make those connections possible through fast and reliable internet service, in good times or during a pandemic. Recent data tells us two things: that our networks are strong – we have built the capacity to meet the demand for Zoom meetings, distance learning, telemedicine, binge-watching and how-to videos for baking bread.
But we also know that some Vermonters do not have access to high speed broadband. Congress and the Vermont Department of Public Service recognize this, too, and are formulating plans to spend significant federal Covid-19 stimulus dollars to expand connectivity to ensure everyone has access to online information and services. The energy at all levels of government to shrink the digital divide is remarkable, and we are committed to working with all of our partners to seize this opportunity for Vermont to close the gap of “last mile” internet access and get those families and businesses connected.
In order to best prepare Vermont for a future where online education, telehealth, digital communication and other elements of the digital economy remain permanent fixtures in our everyday lives, we need a broadband development program that is inclusive of all providers, open to all technology and targeted to the areas that need it most.
Thanks to a years-long commitment to the state, our companies have made progress on these goals by investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Vermont, connecting over 155,000 homes and businesses and installing approximately 9,000 miles of fiber. And we’re not stopping there. Last week, Comcast announced it is working with the state on an expansion project to extend broadband service to more than 430 addresses in seven communities, and our members extended our networks an additional 70 miles in 2019 alone. During this crisis, all of our member companies are working to keep Vermonters connected by waiving late fees, opening Wi-Fi hotspots to everyone, expanding access to low-cost plans, and providing technology to those in need.
We are well-suited to partner with Vermont to turn federal dollars into critical infrastructure because we’ve done it before with public-private partnerships like the Connectivity Initiative – and we can do it again. Through that innovative private-public partnership we turned millions of dollars in grant funding into hundreds of homes and business with broadband access. It worked then, and it will work now.
Structured correctly, these types of public-private partnerships target truly unserved areas, are technology neutral and involve a competitive bidding process, allowing consumers to benefit from a diverse set of capable internet service providers competing to build in the most cost-efficient manner possible.
Massachusetts’ record of success in this space has proven that the model works. The Massachusetts Broadband Institute’s Last Mile Program used the same flexible, community-based approach to spark a dramatic buildout in broadband connectivity, bringing high-speed internet to dozens of towns and reducing the number of communities without broadband from 45 to just one today. Their success demonstrates that if the process for enhancing broadband infrastructure is open to all technologies and multiple participants, that it remains transparent and aligned with goals that actually help people, we can bring the rest of Vermont online too.
Vermonters know that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to any challenge. What works well in Rutland may not be the right fit for Berkshire or Newfane. Working together we can develop a creative solution that values a track record of success over a singular ideology.
Even before Covid-19, a number of Vermonters were left offline. With the potential for a dedicated source of funding from the federal government and cooperation between the private and public sectors to fix that problem, Vermont will emerge from this crisis stronger and better connected for the future.
