The Southern Tier and its residents will benefit from $70 million in awards through the state’s Connect ALL Municipal Infrastructure Grant program to help connect New Yorkers to high-speed broadband internet.
With the $18.2 million it was awarded, Southern Tier Network will build out 223 miles, own and operate open-access fiber-to-the-home networks connecting over 4,200 homes and businesses in eight towns across Schuyler, Steuben, Chemung, Tioga, and Tompkins Counties. Southern Tier Network, a nonprofit governed by the counties in the Southern Tier Central Region, will add 223 miles of fiber optic infrastructure through the investment. The project service area faces challenges of extreme rural poverty, vulnerable aging populations, and disproportionately high levels of households with a person with a disability.
All the locations in the project service area will be receiving fiber optic connections and high-speed symmetric service options for the first time through the project. Following the model of the ConnectALL municipal infrastructure pilot project in the Town of Nichols, Southern Tier Network will partner with FiberSpark and other internet service providers on the network to deliver internet service at rates below the costs for service in the area, with the aim of increasing education, economic, and health outcomes and retaining population.
Also in Tompkins County, the towns of Dryden and Caroline were awarded close to $9 million to bring new public broadband service to over 2,600 locations.
The Municipal Infrastructure Program was based on ConnectALL’s Municipal Infrastructure pilot projects, which demonstrated the transformative benefit of publicly-owned, open-access fiber optic networks. Open access networks can be used by multiple service providers, bringing consumer choice to underserved areas, and public ownership means broadband infrastructure is a basic utility available to all households in these communities. The pilot projects leveraged an initial $10 million investment from ConnectALL to fund municipal broadband projects in four upstate communities – the Village of Sherburne in Chenango County, the Town of Nichols in Tioga County, the Town of Diana in Lewis County, and the Town of Pitcairn in St. Lawrence County. All four projects have been completed, connecting more than 3,000 households to high-speed internet at prices below the regional average.
ConnectALL will announce additional rounds of Municipal Infrastructure Program funding in the coming months. For more information, visit the Municipal Infrastructure Program on the ConnectALL website.