ANYWHERE | Not a real story. Local residents are beginning to see the fruits of state-funded broadband expansion efforts.
Chazy & Westport Communications announced last week completion of a project that expanded broadband to 620 homes and businesses in Clinton and Essex counties.
Beneficiaries include Westport, Wadhams, West Chazy, Chazy and Sciota, as well as southern portions of the towns of Essex and Lewis.
Speeds will be at least 100 megabytes per second, the minimum required by the state in all but the most rural areas, where speeds have been set at 25 mbps.
The projects were supported by $2.8 million in state grants, joining $705,000 in private funding.
While other carriers have bypassed the Adirondacks over the cost-prohibitive nature of building out “last-mile” networks in rural areas, the state assistance has allowed the provider to deploy nearly 111 miles of new and upgraded fiber-optic cable in their franchise area.
“It was going to take us 20 years to do what we did in two years,” said Joe Forcier, the company’s vice president.
SLIC UPDATE
Slic Network Solutions has completed the “vast majority” of their network construction in Keene aside from small portions delayed by road conditions.
The provider is replacing approximately 22 miles of legacy coax plant with fiber and upgrading the backbone of their newly-obtained Keene location.
“Barring more disruptive storms, we expect to complete the network construction in the next couple of weeks and to begin installations by the end of this month,” Slic CEO Kevin Lynch told The Sun on Monday.
The provider stands to wire communities across Essex (Chesterfield, Elizabethtown, Essex, Lewis, North Hudson, Schroon, Ticonderoga, Willsboro) and Clinton counties, including the Town of Plattsburgh, Altona, Dannemora, Ellenburg and Saranac, as part of the next phase.
Those projects are in the engineering phase, said Lynch, which involves collecting utility pole data for the facilitation of the “make-ready” process — or securing space for fiber — and the interconnection with existing networks.
“We have multiple crews from various engineering organizations coupled with internal resources gathering information along 400-plus miles of rights of way throughout these counties,” Lynch said. “Once the designs are finalized and approved, construction will begin and we will be working all out to complete these projects within the established timeframes.”
Slic also recently completed the purchase of Gore Mountain Cable, which will be “integrated and upgraded” with their Warren County grant funds, which will provide service to Johnsburg, Stony Creek, Thurman and Warrensburg.
By leveraging the grant, approximately 600 additional homes in Johnsburg and North Creek may have access to fiber-to-the-home, said Lynch, and will “tangentially benefit” the state’s universal broadband initiative.
ZOOMING OUT
The updates come exactly one year after Gov. Andrew Cuomo touched down in Plattsburgh to announce the third and final round of grant awards as part of the New NY Broadband Program.
In all, the North Country has received $154 million in subsidies touching virtually every community in the region.
Other grant recipients, including Frontier Communications and Verizon, have not yet provided additional details.
“We’re making progress in our build out under the program,” a Verizon spokesman told The Sun on Monday. “We’ll be making announcements as communities open for business and will be glad to share news at that time.”
Roughly half of the unserved homes statewide will be served by satellite provider HughesNet, which received $3.2 million for local projects.
A representative didn’t return an email seeking comment. But a company spokesperson said last November “final approvals are complete on package, plans, pricing and systems to validate eligible addresses.”
The state Broadband Program Office (BPO) is overseeing all build-outs and said satellite service will be launched in the first quarter, or before March 31.
The BPO will subsidize installation costs for satellite dishes.
Hughes will hold costs to $49 per unit. Other participating providers are required to set a monthly price ceiling of $60 for service for the next five years.
THE FINAL TWO PERCENT
The state initially set the end of 2018 as a goal for the program’s conclusion, and said the “vast majority” of the phases announced in 2016 and 2017 met the completion deadline and residents are now connecting online.
“Based on network construction completed by the end of 2018, approximately 98 percent of locations currently have access to broadband,” a BPO spokesman told The Sun. “Some project verifications are still ongoing.”
The agency has allowed providers who received funding last year to apply for one-year waivers demonstrating cause. Delays can be caused by make-ready issues with poles, storm damage and other factors.
Despite the sunny statewide progress report, local officials have come to a consensus that they represent the final 2 percent.
Local non-profit AdkAction volunteered last fall to serve as conduit between local governments and state officials.
Broadband Committee Chairman Dave Wolff hailed the scope of the state’s commitment: $670 million paired with $170 million in federal funds.
“The state has done a great job of investing in high speed broadband access,” he said. “The governor’s goal of getting 100 percent of New Yorkers to have access to high speed broadband is wonderful.”
Lewis Supervisor Jim Monty wants more precise information detailing build-outs at the neighborhood evel.
“We need an updated map of who’s going where and what areas aren’t being serviced,” Monty said.
Johnsburg Supervisor Andrea Hogan is keeping a close eye on coverage areas, including last-mile homes that may be difficult to reach despite their neighbors being included in a grant package.
“If even 5 percent (are left out), that’s not all New Yorkers,” Hogan said in November.
Wolff is working with local officials to identify any households that may have been overlooked.
“It’s very possible, through no fault of anyone, that some households may fall through the cracks and not be included in either the New York state or Spectrum build-out programs,” said Wolff, referring to a commitment by Charter to build out its network to 145,000 locations as part of their 2016 merger agreement with Time Warner.
