A party in Edgecomb July 16 celebrated the completion of a fiber optic line making high speed Internet available to residents of McKay and River Roads.
Lincolnville Communications and Coastal Telco Services hosted the event in conjunction with the Town of Edgecomb. The party featured a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by ConnectMe Authority Executive Director Phil Lindley, Edgecomb selectmen, and members of the Edgecomb Broadband Committee.
The completion of the fiber optic line completed a nearly four year effort to bring broadband Internet to Edgecomb’s rural residents. Starting in 2006, members of the Edgecomb Broadband Committee began applying to ConnectME, a Maine Legislature approved operation aimed at expanding broadband access to unserved areas of the state.
The ConnectME Authority is tasked with creating broadband expansion projects and providing funding and incentives toward the adoption of broadband technology. The Authority is funded by a 0.25 percent surcharge on Maine’s retail communication services. Grants are awarded in September. According to Lindley, while the amount of money given out varies from year to year, the Authority tries to disperse about $1 million each award period.
In 2007, a grant was awarded to Midcoast Internet Solutions to provide Internet access to the residents of McKay and River Road, however the company was unable to follow through on its project. When Midcoast’s plans fell through, the Town of Edgecomb applied to ConnectME in 2009 seeking assistance for all unserved members of the community. They were awarded with a $230,000 grant.
Edgecomb divided the grant between Time Warner, who would extend service to the western half of Edgecomb, and to Lincolnville Communications, a subsidiary of Lincolnville Telephone Company, who would work on the eastern half.
Lincolnville Communications completed the project over a four month span. The newly installed fiber optic line will be able to provide high speed Internet and voice services, with video services to be offered in the future.
“It’s absolutely wonderful,” said Chris Johnson, who was appointed by Gov. Baldacci to serve on the Broadband Access Infrastructure Board, the progenitor of ConnectME.
Many companies were reticent to begin work on a fiber optic line along McKay and River Road primarily due to the difficulty and the associated cost of reaching the area’s residents.
“The hard part was getting down to the customer. Bringing broadband to rural areas is a big undertaking, but it was a fun project,” said Randal Manning, Vice President of Operations at Lincolnville Telephone Company.
As they breathed a collective sigh of relief, the members of the Broadband Committee indicated that persistence and the help of ConnectME were instrumental in getting their project finally completed.
Whether it was because of video streaming quality of Hulu or the impressive web browsing speed, the Broadband Committee smiled approvingly at the new connection’s capabilities.
“It’s a major step forward,” said Janet Blevins, a member of the Edgecomb Broadband Committee, eagerly showing off to a crowd of onlookers the connection speed on her new smartphone.
