BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Town by town, Vermont is getting connected – thanks to Communication Union Districts rolling out fiber cable.
The Vermont Community Broadband Board says the work of the CUDs is moving the needle, with the vast majority of Vermonters getting access to fiber connection – something they say is a change from a year and a half ago.
Davis Brakeley calls his experience of trying to surf the web just over a year ago ‘the dark ages.’
Brakeley is on the Board of Trustees of the Shard Villa Residential Care Home in Salisbury. Shard Villa has dozens of residents and employees looking to get online for job requirements, connecting with family, or telehealth at any time
He says there was one provider in the area – but it had no incentive to improve the connection due to the low population.
“There was no way to upgrade it despite our best efforts,” he said.
That’s when they tapped into Maple Broadband – Addison County’s Communication Union District that began construction in October 2022.
They’ve built fiber broadband access in over 32 miles of Addison County, with another 68-mile build underway that would hook up over 200 customers.
“Our goal is to make sure that every on-grid address in Addison County has access to fiber service from at least one provider – doesn’t necessarily have to be us. But if there isn’t a fiber service plan, then you’re going to make sure that we bring our fiber here,” said Ellie de Villiers of Maple Broadband. She says running a CUD includes turning over every stone to find funding to make it happen.
She says they’ve received millions of dollars through the American Rescue Plan, and they plan on tapping into a new funding pool from the Broadband Equity Access and Employment Act, or “BEAD”.
“The state received $229 million from the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Act. This is about $100,000 more than we expected to receive and much of that is thanks to organizations and Vermonters and staff here pulling out the stops to correct the FCC Broadband Map,” said Rob Fish of Vermont
Fish says CUDs statewide are making headway, with 6 CUDs impacting customers. EC Fiber is the first to achieve universal service to every household in their district, NEK broadband is rolling out 450 miles of fiber to service 6,000 households, and Southern Vermont CUD partnered with a private provider to connect customers.
Simultaneously, and perhaps ironically, private providers are rolling out fiber now, too.
“The creation of the Communication Union Districts introduced an element of competition, that if the private incumbent doesn’t get there first, somebody else will right we’ll have competition. While we’re excited for competition, we’re also excited for a private partner there’s just that up to the plate and to build out their areas,” said Fish.
For rural communities like the Shard Villa, Brakeley says being seen as a valuable customer is invaluable for their progress as a business.
“We were just a voice in the wilderness and the density of other potential clients was so limited, they didn’t really pay a lot of attention to us. So it was so great to have somebody suddenly say, yes, we can do that. And yes, you are important to us,” said Brakeley.
On the federal level, advocates like Senator Peter Welch are supporting the extension of the Affordable Connectivity Program, which allows costs to remain affordable for broadband.