Partnerships Foster Fiber Hotbed in Southwest New Hampshire

The southwest corner of New Hampshire will be blanketed with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks over the next two years, as 16 communities are drawing up plans to enter into public-private partnerships to boost high-speed Internet access in the state. According to New Hampshire’s Southwest Region Planning Commission (SWRPC), six more cities have also issued warrant articles indicating their interest in partnering with a private Internet service provider (ISP) to improve insufficient connectivity. Most of the cities are considering partnerships with Consolidated Communications. Towns voting to issue municipal bonds will execute a 20-year contract under which they own the network and Consolidated maintains, operates and monitors the network. When the 20-year contract ends, each town will be able to renew the contract with Consolidated or request bids for a new network operator. Though the public-private partnership model seems to be serving many well, New Hampshire’s municipalities are able to explore a variety of regional models for broadband improvement thanks to H.B. 1111, legislation passed last year allowing for the creation of Communications Union Districts.