BUCKLAND — Now that the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) has signed an agreement with Comcast for a broadband network expansion in nine partially served “cable” towns, residents could see work beginning as early as next week, Cable Advisory Chairman Glenn Cardinal told selectmen.
“We’ll be seeing trucks on the streets within a week, surveying (utility) poles,” he said. Cardinal said he was part of a conference call Tuesday afternoon. Instead of building out the broadband cable systems one town at a time, Comcast officials said in the conference call they plan to work on all the cable towns and, within 18 months, “get 50 percent of each of these towns up and running,” Cardinal said.
“We will get (more) accurate maps once the trucks are out, 180 days from now,” he added.
The rest of the cable expansion would occur in the last six months, so that the entire project would be done in two years. Franklin County towns included in this contract are: Buckland, Conway, Montague, Northfield and Shelburne.
The agreement calls for Comcast to expand cable service to at least 96 percent of each town. For Buckland, that would bring broadband access to at least 72 more homes or businesses. It also adds access to 185 more homes and businesses in Conway, 105 more in Montague, 48 more in Northfield and 163 more in Shelburne.
When asked what the town can do to get 100 percent build-out, Cardinal said the town can make a formal request to Comcast to find out how much it would cost to extend broadband cable to the remaining unserved homes and businesses. Then the town could look for ways to pay for the remaining 4 percent.
Selectmen voted unanimously to file a formal request to find out the full build-out cost.
On Wednesday, the cable towns received copies of a 17-page “Grant Disbursement Agreement” from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, which oversees MBI. The agreement spells out the conditions of its $4 million cost-sharing grant to Comcast for the 96 percent build-out. The agreement says Comcast is to complete the cable expansion project by Aug. 17, 2018, barring “excusable delay events.”
The agreement has certain build-out targets: Within 120 days, Comcast is to deliver a preliminary line extension design for each cable town, identifying pole spans expected to be included in the project. Within 180 days from the Aug. 17 agreement, Comcast is to provide a project schedule, with the projected time of completion.
According to the agreement, the project engineering should be completed by Dec. 30. Other target dates are: right-of-way preparation Dec. 30, 2017; network construction May 29, 2018; test and database work July 28, 2018 and notice to potential customers of service availability Aug. 17, 2018.