Windsor's (MA) broadband chief calls FCC aid 'game changer'

Windsor's (MA) go-to broadband leader, Doug McNally, found himself sitting this past week with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai. Not long after the introductions, Chairman Pai quoted a word McNally used to describe the impact of a newly won FCC grant. "Lifesaver," McNally had said. This past week, the former educator and current Select Board member added another description of the $886,172 grant his small Berkshire County town will receive in installments over the next decade: "Game changer." 

Chairman Pai stopped in Westfield (MA) to check in with people who will benefit from a $10.3 million Connect America Fund allocation to towns working on fiber-optic network projects with Westfield Gas & Electric. Six Berkshire County towns will receive $2.4 million over 10 years. McNally and another local broadband advocate, David Kulp of Ashfield, used their time with Chairman Pai both to offer thanks for critical financial support and to press for help overcoming obstacles that slow their progress.  "Anything in particular the FCC can help with?" Chairman Pai asked. "What time do you have to leave today?" came one reply, prompting laughter.  The main challenge towns face is delays with "make ready" work, the process of preparing utility poles to receive fiber lines in the telecommunications zone of the poles.  Chairman Pai asked during his Westfield stop whether the FCC's "One-Touch Make-Ready" draft policy on utility poles is helpful. Not at all, Kulp said, because it doesn't apply in Massachusetts. The state has its own law overseen by the Department of Telecommunications and Cable. The state's rules on "make ready," Kulp said later, "are woefully out of date and lack sufficient regulatory teeth."