Broadband efforts continue despite setback

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - Broadband boosters assured Hilltown residents Wednesday they're working hard to make sure their next bid for federal funds will be accepted, following the government's rejection of the state's initial $100 million grant application last week.

Speaking at Northampton High School, Judith Dumont, director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, assured residents that the institute will learn from its failure and will work to ensure the next application, to be submitted in March, is approved. The institute is a state agency charged with extending affordable high-speed Internet access across the commonwealth.

"We are attending workshops and working with consultants to determine what is desirable in a winning application," Dumont said. "Our mission is to bring broadband to all of the citizens and businesses in Massachusetts but, as you all know, that need is most acute out here, and so this is our absolute first priority."

The federal funding, part of the federal stimulus package, would provide 43 unserved or underserved western Massachusetts towns with broadband.

Dumont reassured the approximately 50 residents in attendance that state legislators recognize the importance of providing broadband access to Hilltown residents because of "all the doors it will open for those communities."

"Having broadband available has a real impact on key economic metrics in these towns, such as increasing employment, increasing local property values and causing businesses to sprout up," she said.

Chris Kealey, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Technological Collaborative, which oversees the institute, said he likes the state's chances of securing funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Agency during a second round of grants in March - when the second two-thirds of funding will be made available.

"It is significant that only a third of the money available was allocated in Round 1, which means there are significant dollars left in Round 2," Kealey said. "We have obviously learned a lot from this process and we are going to aggressively pursue that funding when it is made available again in six weeks."

Following the half-hour-long presentation, several Hilltown residents seized the opportunity to address institute representatives, many of whom said they were there to represent those in their community who struggle to get by without broadband Internet being readily available.

Among the speakers was Peter d'Errico, a Leverett selectman, who urged representatives to "stir up" community involvement in the Hilltowns, because he knew that residents would be more willing to step up and help if they thought their voices were being heard at the state level.

"People in the Hilltowns are ticked off royally about this, and you can either harness that energy and use it, or be one of those who just gets trampled in the process," d'Errico said.

Also advocating for a quick start to the institute's plan of building a $4.5 million, 55-mile fiber-optic network along Interstate 91 from the Connecticut border to the Vermont border was Charles Flynn, director of technology for Lee public schools, who said it would be key to providing future access to smaller towns.

"You have to build the foundation first ... we need to be building that first loop right now," Flynn said. "If we wait much longer, some of us aren't going to see this happen during our lifetimes."

Video of Wednesday's presentation, Dupont said, will be available today at the institute's Web site, http://www.massbroadband.org.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com