Consolidated Partners with Vermont Municipality on Fiber Network

Consolidated Communications is partnering with the Southern Vermont communications union district (CUD) to provide symmetrical gigabit speed broadband services to almost 12,000 Bennington County (VT) homes by the end of summer 2022. A CUD is a non-profit municipal entity that provides or aims to provide broadband in Vermont to two or more towns that are underserved or unserved. A CUD can fund operations through grants, debt and donations — but not taxes. Consolidated said that the Bennington County project is part of its plan to expand service to 200,000 homes in the state by the end of 2025. The Bennington project is the first phase of the partnership between Consolidated and the Southern Vermont CUD. The ultimate goal is to serve the entire CUD, which is comprised of 14 rural towns. In the first phase of the project, Consolidated is investing its own funds and using a subsidy from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) to serve 400 of the 12,000 homes that are considered to be unserved in and near Bennington and Shaftsbury (VT).