FairPoint to Extend Broadband in 53 Vermont Towns

FairPoint Communications is planning to expand broadband Internet in 53 towns across Vermont – in unserved neighborhoods from Troy to Halifax as well as dozens of other towns across the Green Mountain State.

In all, multiple neighborhoods in 53 towns will see this new high-speed access. FairPoint will leverage $2 million from the Federal Communications Commission's Connect America Fund, or CAF, established last year with the sole purpose to accelerate broadband buildout to the 18 million Americans living in rural areas who currently have no access to robust broadband services. This initiative will bring broadband to approximately 7,100 locations of which more than 2,600 will qualify for CAF funding.

The towns include: Albany, Barnard, Barnet, Belvidere, Bethel, Bloomfield, Bradford, Braintree, Brookfield, Burke, Chelsea, Glastenbury, Granby, Groton, Guildhall, Halifax, Hancock, Hardwick, Irasburg, Lemington, Lowell, Maidstone, Montgomery, Newark, Newfane, Newport Town, Pomfret, Pownal, Putney, Randolph, Reading, Rochester, Royalton, Rupert, Sandgate, Shaftsbury, Sharon, Sheffield, Stockbridge, Strafford, Stratton, Townshend, Troy, Tunbridge, Victory, Walden, Wardsboro, West Windsor, Westfield, Westminster, Whitingham, Wolcott and Woodbury. In addition to the Vermont expansion, the CAF funding will enable FairPoint to add broadband coverage in South China, Maine.

The project buildout will span three years with about a third of the communities coming online each year.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said, “Today’s announcement by FairPoint means that more than 50 towns in Vermont and Maine will be connected to new broadband, and thousands of previously unserved Americans will get broadband within the next 12 months alone. In today’s economy, access to broadband means access to jobs and economic opportunity, in addition to better education and healthcare. I applaud FairPoint for its commitment to accelerate broadband build-out by increasing private investment in rural communities, in partnership with the Connect America Fund.”