BOWDOIN

There are many layers to solving the issue of connecting rural areas to high speed internet access.

That’s true in the town of Bowdoin, which currently has 251 homes without high speed access. That was the word from John Lewis, chairman of the town’s cable and internet committee, at a special meeting by selectmen Monday night. The purpose of the meeting was to provide information on potential options to deliver access to those unserviced homes. Lewis, like other committee members, lives in an area impacted by lack of high speed service.

The most viable, immediate option is to work with Comcast, he said; the town’s franchise agreement with the provider expired three years ago. Lewis said the town has told the company they’d sign another one, but want to have every Bowdoin resident connected.

“Best case scenario, we could get this process started by September,” he said, “(and) by this time next year everyone would be serviced.”

Comcast is the best option, Lewis said, because when the last agreement expired and the town contacted other providers, the companies were unwilling to build the infrastructure needed to deliver service to the whole town.

A previous estimate by Comcast to expand service in Bowdoin had a $680,000 price tag, Lewis said, but seemed unwilling to negotiate a new agreement with the town to expand once the pact had expired. He has new hope, however, as the provider recently upgraded its fiber optic service on existing poles in town.

That could make expansion easier — and more cost friendly.

“We’re now actually on par with some of the bigger cities as far as fiber to the pole goes,” Lewis said, “but we don’t have service to the entire town. That will make that new transition easier.”

While the upgrade makes expansion more viable, new estimates for that are now about $500,000; that figure has not been finalized.

“With lower costs and fiber expansion it’s now looking more financially viable to them, so they’re looking to play ball with us now,” said Lewis. “We just got a franchise agreement tonight, selectmen will review it before it goes public.”

A potential sticking point, he said, would be whether Comcast would be willing to connect all homes. Another, Lewis noted, would be whether the company would seek a contribution — perhaps $25,000 — from the town to pay for the work. If the town was stuck with a bill, he said, it would seek grant funds to help pay for it.

State interest

At Monday’s meeting, state Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, mentioned he has proposed a bill that would increase funding for ConnectME, the state’s agency for broadband, to provide more grants for infrastructure.

His proposal was for $100 million, equivalent to road and bridge bonds. Berry said he was hopeful there would be enough bipartisan support for the bill for it to pass next session.

“Once you draw a line of fiber you’re done,” he said. “You don’t have to re-pave it like you do with roads and bridges, it’s infrastructure that lasts.”

Berry said it’s important to have the infrastructure in place to allow for high speed internet. Many people could work from home, he said, but lacking the connectivity can hamper that — something that could keep people from living or staying in Maine. One constituent in the audience, Berry said, needed a certain internet speed for their job, but was not always able to get the quality access they needed.

Education and medicine are two other areas for which better internet is needed, he said.

“Health care is increasingly delivered through telemedicine,” said Berry. “It’s amazing what they can do with high speed internet. One of the loudest voices for high speed internet in Augusta is hospitals.”

Hard work and other options

Lewis said getting to the point of an agreement with Comcast is a credit to the persistent work of the committee and town officials. Helping the group through the process has been Mark Ouellette, president of Axiom Technologies, who has served as a consultant.

He outlined an alternative to Comcast — the town could build its own infrastructure for fiber optic service, which would provide the best opportunity for equal access for everyone in town.

Ouellette estimated the cost of undertaking that project at about $3.6 million.

“To me, you should swing for the fence,” he said. “There’s really only one choice and that’s fiber.

“Essentially you would not have to reinvest for the next 20 years,” Ouellette added. “Essentially speeds would be covered for increasing technology.”

One advantage to building its own fiber network is that the town could dictate the terms of its service in working with providers. Ouellette acknowledge the hefty price tag would mean seeking funding to pay for it, but it was his recommendation town officials consider that option going forward.

“Where we’re going from here is we’re going to start getting actual proposals in play,” said Lewis. “For me right now, my focus is on Comcast, and I’m going to continue to work parallel with Mark on the fiber project.”

The next step will be gauging interest from the 251 households currently without high speed service, and Lewis said he’d like to see the situation resolved within the next year.

chris@timesrecord.com