WiredWest, which consists of 16 towns in Franklin County, seven in Hampshire, three in Hampden and 21 in Berkshire, hopes to build and operate a community-owned fiber-optic cable network.
The Massachusetts Broadband Institute has awarded WiredWest a $50,000 grant to help bring high-speed Internet service into 27,000 homes, 3,000 businesses and dozens of community institutions in the consortium’s 47 charter towns.
WiredWest, which consists of 16 towns in Franklin County, seven in Hampshire, three in Hampden and 21 in Berkshire, hopes to build and operate a community-owned fiber-optic cable network. Twenty-five of those towns have passed the two votes needed to officially join WiredWest and 15 have their second votes coming up.
Monica Webb, co-chair of the WiredWest steering committee, said the grant will fund an engineering survey, a market survey, cost estimates and other work to advance the “last mile” of the MassBroadband 123 project in the member towns. The “last mile” is the system of cables that will connect from hubs to the users’ equipment.
The 123 project is a $71.6 million effort to bring service to 123 communities, many of them rural and sparsely populated, that are lacking in access by 2013. The network’s “backbone” runs along Interstate 91 from Longmeadow to Bernardston and cables will branch out to the hubs. It is unclear exactly where they will be located.
Webb said the MBI cables and the last mile can be built at the same time.
“When the MBI is ready to go live in their 123 towns, we will be ready to go live in our 47 charter towns,” she said.
If all goes according to plan, WiredWest would also facilitate television, phone and ancillary services. Residents would not be required to use WiredWest’s infrastructure.
Warwick, a charter town, will receive a $50,000 MBI grant to bring wireless Internet to 400 more people. Webb said this doesn’t affect the town’s membership in the co-op, but WiredWest will likely require a certain level of demand before it will build out in a town. Warwick’s move could reduce its demand, which could deprive them of the faster and arguably better fiber-optic system.
Leverett will receive a $40,000 grant and work with Greenfield-based Crocker Communications to design its own last mile system. They are a WiredWest charter town, but have not officially voted to join. Webb said if their plan doesn’t work, they will be welcome to use the co-op’s cables.
Originally, the network was going to be open-access, meaning any company could sell its services through WiredWest’s cables. But Webb said the co-op is now looking at other options.
“We did our due diligence ... and discovered there were some concerns with that model,” she said. “Too much competition, no one makes enough money, no one puts enough effort into aggressively marketing to obtain more subscribers.”
WiredWest will match the state grant to more than 25 percent with cash and in-kind services such as volunteer work to develop the business plan and marketing strategies. Once the work is complete, the co-op can apply for construction funding.