Connect America Fund boosts municipal broadband networks

Gov. Charlie Baker (R-MA) announced that Westfield Gas & Electric, which is managing broadband construction projects in 20 rural towns, has secured $10.2 million as part of a funding authorization from the Federal Communications Commission, through the Connect America Fund Phase II. The money will support the delivery of high-speed internet to residents in several Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire county towns, including Shutesbury, Cummington, Goshen, Chesterfield and Plainfield, which combined have more than 12,400 households. The money will be available to Westfield Gas & Electric over the next decade and will supplement construction projects that have already received more than $19 million from the state’s Last Mile Infrastructure Grant program. The FCC requires speeds of 25 megabits per second for downloads and 3 megabits per second for uploads in broadband projects, but the participating towns are building their networks to provide 1 gigabit-per-second speeds for both downloads and uploads.