MassBroadband 123 will use a fiber backbone hung from telephone poles

A project to install around 1,300 miles of fiber optical broadband backbone throughout Massachusetts was made possible by a $45 million grant from NITA (the National Telecommunications and Information Administration) in addition to funding from the state.  MassBroadband 123 is being directed by MBI (the Massachusetts Broadband Institute) and will bring high-speed broadbanc access to more than 120 communities.

The Director of MBI, Judith Dumont, detailed what needed to be done in order to accomplish this expansion for rural areas that do not have broadband access.  The first step is to make room on over 35,000 telephone poles.  Once room has been made on the poles, the fiber optic cable can be put up overhead

Axia has been hired to run the fiber backbone and network once it has been installed.  This company manages broadband networks around the world including Canada, France, Singapore and Spain, so they seem like a good choice to run the MassBroadband 123 network.

Axia has said that everything is on schedule to be completed before June of 2013.  AT&T and Verizon are both going to connect wireless broadband towers to the new backbone to bring mobile broadband to all the areas that do not have it at this point in time..

In face, AT&T already has its towers in place and will start to connect them to the fiber backbone as early as the first half of this coming year.

Over 333,500 households and 44,000 businesses will be served by MassBroadband 123.  It looks like the least expensive way to run the fiber is the old-fashioned way of using telephone poles.