Tom Hoefler of Thirau LLC, an electric and restoration contractor for the Westfield Gas & Electric, helps secure a fiber optic line that will connect the Town of Russell to West Springfield Thursday along the Route 20 corridor. (Photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
SOUTHWICK – The Mass Broadband Institute (MBI) is hosting community forums in Great Barrington and Southwick to discuss the first segments of the project from Springfield to Great Barrington.
The segments will be lit in March. The Southwick meeting is set for Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. at Southwick Town Hall. The forums will include an update of the MassBroadband 123 project, last mile and grant updates, and an AXIA Network Operator update.
MBI was created by the Patrick Administration and the Massachusetts Legislature to build over 1,300 miles of fiber-optic cable to connect over 120 communities in western and north central Massachusetts.
Southwick Economic Development Commission Chairman Michael McMahon said although Southwick does have high-speed internet and cable service providers, several municipal buildings are still being hooked up to the MassBroadBand 123 fiber network.
“We don’t have to use it, but the option will be there,” said McMahon. “With fiber, you can have astronomical speeds.”
Many of the hilltowns, including Russell, Granville, Tolland and Blandford, will greatly benefit from the system.
“A lot of these small towns have only dial-up options and no cell service,” McMahon said. “Most providers want to have so many customers per mile and don’t want to bother with small towns.”
Having the fiber network would allow cable and Internet providers to connect customers to the network, which saves the company the cumbersome cost of getting the service to smaller towns.
McMahon said MassBroadband 123 will connect town halls, police and fire stations and other pertinent facilities.
Westfield Gas and Electric (WGE) will also play a role in the connection.
“We’ve been working with the folks from MBI on the portion that goes through Westfield,” said WGE’s Andrew Banas. “This way they don’t have to do an over-build – it’s a win-win situation.”
Banas said the opportunity exists for WGE to be one of Mass Broadband 123’s service providers.
“This would allow us to be in a direct connection to Boston,” Banas said. “We plan to be an active participant in getting commercial customers.”
According to the website broadband.masstech.org, 28,601 of 33,389 poles (85 percent) have been licensed and 521 of 1,257 (41 percent) fiber miles have been deployed.
When complete in mid-2013, the MassBroadband 123 network will expand high-speed Internet access to improve the lives of residents, close the digital divide and bring new economic opportunities to the region.
MassBroadband 123 is a critical component of Governor Patrick’s initiative to expand broadband access across the Commonwealth.
In July 2010, the MBI was awarded $45.4 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to build MassBroadband 123.
The MBI and the Commonwealth are providing $26.2 million in matching funds to bring the total investment in the MassBroadband 123 project to $71.6 million.
The Commonwealth’s $26.2 million in matching funds include:$3.1 million – Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security; $3.1 million – Massachusetts Information Technology Division; $20 million – Massachusetts Broadband Institute.
According to MBI, Massbroadband 123 will connect close to 1,400 public safety entities, community colleges, libraries, medical facilities, and town halls, build and maintain a network that will serve 333,500 households and 44,000 businesses over a geographic area covering over one-third of Massachusetts with more than one million residents, and provide the necessary broadband infrastructure to foster economic growth, improve health care and education, and strengthen public safety.
