Vermont Community Broadband Board Approves $26.5 Million to Expand Broadband

The Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) approved three grants totaling $26.45 Million to bring broadband to more than 4,000 underserved Vermont addresses. Of the $26.45 million, $9.1 million has been awarded to the Maple Broadband/Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom (WCVT) partnership to expand fiber-optic broadband into parts of rural Addison County, including Bridport, Ferrisburgh, New Haven, Panton, Waltham, and Weybridge. The source of the grant funding is the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). This project will extend WCVT’s fiber-to-the-home network to approximately 2,000 additional customers in parts of Addison County in the Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom service areas. The network can deliver symmetrical broadband speeds of up to 1 Gb to residents. An additional $8.35 million has been awarded to WCVT to start the first phase of their build-out to bring broadband to 1200 underserved addresses in towns that are not part of a CUD. WCVT is adding a full build-out in the town of Charlotte and a full build-out in the town of Bolton. WCVT will also begin partial build-out work in seven other towns. The remaining $9 million has been awarded to Southern Vermont Communications Union District (SoVT CUD). It is partnering with Consolidated Communications to bring broadband to 6,412 addresses across southern Vermont, 1300 of which are currently underserved.