It’s a step and a big step. It is really telling that no matter how much government money intended to improve our physical communications infrastructure is being thrown around, publicly owned projects like Burlington’s BT and this ECFiber project are treated like lepers in a downtown department store.

Nope … no tax dollar for the public, but gosh all mighty we got plenty of tax dollars for the big private corporations. And these big private corporations are offering nothing close to the level of service being provided by or envisioned for the publicly owned utilities.

In the release below you’ll see the sentence “The [publicly owned ECFiber] pilot project will be financed with privately-raised funds.” Any other takers for that line?

Anyway … press release from ECFiber.net follows:

For Immediate Release 7/26/2010

For more information, contact Bob Merrill, 802-457-4938,  info@ecfiber.net

ECFiber Project Underway

With financing plans well underway, we have decided to proceed with a pilot project. At its regularly scheduled meeting, the ECFiber Governing Board gave the go ahead to investigate the deployment of a pilot Fiber to the Home project within its territory. The Executive staff immediately set out to identify suitable target areas to begin deployment.

“We have identified several unserved areas that will help to prove our concept,” said Project director Tim Nulty. “Engineering crews started the pre construction process the morning after the vote. We’re very excited to get to work. This has been a long time coming.” Nulty hopes to make the first pole applications within a couple of weeks.

“Delivering cost effective high quality reliable broadband to rural America is a challenge,” said Ron Cassel, coordinator of the build-out. “We decided that we needed an innovative approach to that challenge. We have built a successful model in our labs, but there is no better test than a real life deployment. That’s when the rubber hits the road. We now have a solid roll-out plan in place, and hope to be installing our first customers in a few months!”

The pilot project will provide a solid foundation for the capital lease used to build out the rest of the network, providing 100% coverage in 23 towns in East Central Vermont. While the intent of the project is to prove that the larger project is viable, according to Nulty, “it will be able to stand on its own if we don’t raise another dime of capital.”

The pilot project will be financed with privately-raised funds.

Pomfret resident Loredo Sola, who chairs the Governing Board, was moved by the vote. “This is an historic day for ECFiber, for Vermont, and for rural America. This is the first project of its kind, and will become a model for the rest of the country.”

All of Vermont’s gubernatorial candidates were invited to the meeting; Matt Dunne attended. He applauded ECFiber for its vision, and especially for getting 23 towns to agree to such a complex and important undertaking. He said that the response to the ECFiber effort demonstrates the level of desire for true broadband coverage.

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ECFiber is a group of 23 towns working to build a community-owned, subscriber-funded Fiber-to-the-Home network to provide phone and ultra-high-speed internet services to 100% of the homes and businesses in the member towns. For more information, see www.ecfiber.net.

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Bob Merrill

www.bobmerrill.com