A Municipal Fiber to the Home Network for Charlemont Massacusetts
Information about our efforts to raise additional funding for Charlemont Connect.
The fiber towns of Charlemont, Colrain, Heath, Leyden, and Rowe – collectively known as the ‘Northern Ring’- have been awarded a $400,000 Massachusetts Community Compact Cabinet Municipal Fiber Grant to support building an interconnected ‘mesh’ network supporting multiple backhaul paths to significantly improve the resiliency of each participating town!
Comments closedThe federal government has launched the Affordable Connectivity Program designed to reduce the cost of broadband service for eligible households by $30/month! Whip City Fiber is accepting applications for qualifying Charlemont subscribers.
Comments closedThe installation of the core fiber management equipment that forms the heart of the Charlemont municipal fiber network has begun! Located in the network equipment enclosure in the town hall, the passive racks and optical equipment are being put in place by our partners at Westfield Gas & Electric (WG&E).
Comments closedCharlemont has been awarded a USDA Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG) of $36,000 to support the purchase of the core Active Components Bill of Materials for the Charlemont municipal fiber-optic network. Combined with the needed passive electronics, this equipment will form the hub of the Charlemont municipal fiber network housed in the Network Equipment Enclosure of the town hall.
Comments closedCharlemont has received $185,500 from the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) as the next traunch of our state broadband allocation. This grant money was awarded as a result of Charlemont completing the milestone of contracting for the construction of the broadband network.
Comments closedWith the receipt of the final National Grid invoice, Charlemont has filed an application for an advance from the EOHED Last-Mile Contingency Fund for approximately $438,000.
Comments closedIn a visit to Western Mass on October 10, Governor Baker and Lt. Governor Polito announced an additional 5 million dollars in last-mile funding for the 21 towns building municipal fiber networks, as reported in MassLive.
Comments closedMembers of the broadband committee spent an intense few weeks of volunteer time preparing the three hundred page USDA ReConnect grant for the town of Charlemont and submitted it just under the wire on 6/21/2019 at 8:16 PM. We have applied for a 1 million dollar loan at a rate lower than any of the financing options we have been exploring, which unlocks a matching grant of 1 million dollars to fund our municipal fiber to the home network. Although it remains a long-shot, Charlemont’s submission made them one of only 19% of organizations to complete the application process!
Comments closedCharlemont is looking at the viability of a federal grant to support our municipal broadband network.
Comments closed
