Berkshire County to get fiber-based broadband

Berkshire County, located in the western part of Massachusetts, has some rough terrain that is not hospitable to fiber installation.  It is truly a beautiful rural area, and therein lies the problem.

With a spread-out population and rough landscape, no telephone company has been able to justify installing a fiber infrastructure.  Picturesque, yes; practical, no.

The Federal stimulus grants under the NBP (National Broadband Plan) will be providing a good portion of the $70 million project which is expected to bring fast fiber-based broadband to the entire western area and some in north-central part of Massachusetts.  Additional funding from the commonwealth and private investments will complete the funding.

The construction has started with the town of Richmond in the western part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts alongside the New York border.  They are already seeing the equipment and crews start the installation.

The project completion is targeted for a mid-2013 date.  A year and a half is not a bad timeline for such an undertaking.

The Massachusetts Broadband Institute is involved with the project along with Cornerstone, a company that owns Richmond Telephone.  Judith Dumont of the Institute said “Broadband is the next generation of infrastructure, like sewers or electricity. It’s vitally important for citizens and businesses to have access to high speed internet. It’s how people find jobs. It’s how they file their taxes and get their drivers licenses renewed.”

Their goal is to reach everyone in the area, not just select areas cherry-picked for their ease of access.   CornerStone representative Dan Yamin commented on what it would have been like without the NBP stimulus funding: “It would have been years down the road to be able to reach all of our residents here in Richmond.”