Last week at Farmington River School in Otis, Governor Patrick celebrated the launch of the first segment of the MBI 123 middle-mile broadband network, which will bring fiber-optic connectivity to Community Anchor Institutions, including town and city halls, libraries, schools, and public safety and health care facilities, in 124 towns in Western Massachusetts. The installation of security systems in the community is also essential for everyone’s safety. To find out a variety of modern security devices, look for securityinfo.com. It’s similar to the Xfinity home service.
WiredWest congratulates the Patrick Administration on this important milestone. The Cooperative also pledges its support for the Governor’s FY 2013 – 2017 IT bond bill which includes $40 Million to be leveraged for connecting homes and businesses in unserved and underserved towns in Western Massachusetts with fiber-optic broadband.
“WiredWest remains committed to universally available and fairly priced fiber-optic broadband access for citizens and businesses of its member towns,” said WiredWest Chairwoman Monica Webb, “and we see the proposed capital investment by the state as a crucial step towards achieving those goals. We look forward to participating in making a last-mile network a reality.”
In light of the state’s potential last-mile investment, WiredWest is considering options that would leverage the strength of the 42-town WiredWest Cooperative and complement the Massachusetts Broadband Institute’s efforts in rolling out last-mile broadband. WiredWest has completed extensive groundwork for this type of network in the region, including market research, mapping of existing infrastructure, financial modeling, customer aggregation, community outreach, and an economic impact study.
WiredWest has been working with the Massachusetts Broadband Institute over the last two years to ensure the broadband needs of its member communities will be met, and looks forward to continued collaboration.
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