On May 24, at 6 p.m. at the UMass, Amherst, Lincoln Campus Center, Room 917, One Campus Center Way, Amherst, the Massachusetts Broadband Institute is hosting a meeting to defend its decision choosing Comcast to provide broadband to some of the unserved parts of Montague and Hardwick.
MBI controls the state funds available. Each town chose Matrix Communications, not Comcast. Criteria included how many homes served, underlying technology, network speed, service, and time to market. Of 16 objective categories, Matrix led in 15. MBI’s primary objection is that Matrix isn’t financially sound. But MBI never accepted Matrix’s offer to provide audited financials under a non-disclosure agreement.
MBI hired two consultants, Wipro and Tilson. Both consultants have a conflict of interest. Wipro received $400,000 from MBI last year and consulted with Comcast in drafting the funding legislation. Tilson is a direct competitor of Matrix. These brazen, biased reports further waste taxpayer money.
A recent Harvard Berkman Institute study was highly critical of MBI. In a blog accompanying the report, Susan Crawford called MBI “a tragic political mess.” The study advocated fibre, not coaxial cable, increased competition, and local control. That’s Matrix, not Comcast. The Hardwick and Montague Broadband Committees filed a request for public information with MBI in January to see where their money was going. We got a response last month. This year, MBI budgeted over $1.9 million in salaries, and $3.3 million in professional services. Meanwhile, $147,000 was awarded to individual towns as grants for broadband projects. We’re hoping for a large turnout on the 24 to force MBI to respect the towns’ decisions. We’re quite capable of protecting the investment, and looking out for our citizenry. As opposed to MBI, which seems better at looking out for itself, and for Comcast.
Rob Steinberg
Montague Broadband Committee