Otter Creek Communications Union District completed a universal service plan delivering fiber broadband to 3,626 addresses, including 1,278 previously unserved locations. The project finished under budget, producing $2.99 million to advance affordability across the state. The CUD partnered with Consolidated Communications/Fidium and GoNetSpeed, with GoNetSpeed investing $3.5 million in upgrades covering several towns. An agreement with VCBB and Consolidated includes accountability and quality guarantees, statewide-aligned pricing, participation in affordability programs, quarterly speed and latency testing, and email outage notifications. Communications union districts in Vermont allocate funding based on road miles.
"This is an example of a CUD strategically reviewing the current level of service in their area, acknowledging the best course of action was to partner with the existing telecom providers serving most addresses, and then holding them accountable to the community," Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) Executive Director Christine Hallquist said in a press release. The Otter Creek CUD includes Benson, Brandon, Castleton, Chittenden, Fair Haven, Goshen, Hubbardton, Mendon, Pawlet, Pittsford, Poultney, Rutland Town, Rutland City, Shrewsbury, Sudbury, Wells, West Rutland, and West Haven.
The good news for the Otter Creek Communications Union District (CUD) in Vermont is that it has completed its universal service plan to bring fiber broadband to 3,626 addresses, 1,278 of which were unserved. The even better news is that the project was completed under budget and $2.99 million will be used to address affordability across the state. The Otter Creek CUD, which is one of nine CUDs in Vermont, worked with Consolidated Communications/Fidium and GoNetSpeed on the project.
Otter Creek CUD and VCBB entered into a construction and service quality agreement with Consolidated Communications for the Vermont project. It includes accountability and quality guarantees, pricing that is no higher than elsewhere in the state, and access to products that are available in northern New England. Other elements of the agreement include participation in affordability programs, quarterly speed and latency testing, and email notification of network outages.
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