As the rural high-speed internet build-out by the state-run Mass. Broadband Institute and Comcast is getting praise for acting swiftly to bring the last mile solution to underserved and unserved towns in Franklin County, it has left the Town of Gill in its wake.
Gill had originally been included on the list of underserved towns that were slated to receive state funds, a $5 million bond through which the MBI would help bring towns above the threshold of 96 percent served with high speed internet.
Gill’s cable committee had been in negotiations with Comcast for over a year and half and came to a tentative agreement in May of 2015. The Gill cable committee negotiated a compromise with Comcast to give up future Public/Education/Government (PEG) access funds by reducing its percentage from 4 to 2.5 percent of gross receipts. This reduction equated to an estimated future revenue loss of between $90,000 to $100,000. For this reduction, the town would receive approximately $220,000 in cable buildout. The committee was aware that the agreed-upon buildout would not bring Gill over the 96 percent threshold, but they thought that MBI might be able to help the town reach this goal through the state program.
In June of 2015, MBI began its request for quotes process, with Comcast being one of its applicants. Gill’s cable committee asked MBI to keep the town on the list of underserved towns since Gill would not be above the 96 percent threshold. MBI finally responded in September, but it wasn’t until after the RFQ process was over, and it replied that Comcast had informed the state Gill would in fact be above the 96 percent threshold. The Town of Gill asked MBI to verify the data since the town’s data did not agree. Gill’s cable committee was also wondering why MBI would accept Comcast’s numbers without verifying those numbers with the town.
Shortly after, Gill requested that the town be put back on the list of underserved towns and asked MBI to find out how and from what source Comcast received its data. The answer did not come until November of 2016. Comcast finally sent a letter to Gill, at the bequest of MBI that was now under new management, and explained that the original data was based on what was provided to them by MBI, data that the Town of Gill had already informed MBI was incorrect. At the Nov. 28, 2016, Selectboard meeting, MBI was asked how it could have accepted Comcast’s data if Comcast was supplying it with data that MBI had given to them? Being that it was new MBI management, they did not know.
Finally, to rub salt into Gill’s broadband wound, MBI negotiated a contract with Comcast to build out the underserved towns in two years, leaving Gill at the mercy of their contractual three-year buildout. Therefore, the underserved towns that are under the MBI agreement, towns that are not giving up any town revenue, are being put ahead of Gill in the rollout.
I can only wonder if Gov. Baker, someone who advocates for the limited role of government, realizes his state broadband initiative is actually punishing a small town like Gill that took charge of its own buildout with Comcast? Lastly, I also hope that towns that are under MBI’s agreement understand that the funds that potentially would have gone to Gill were reallocated to these towns.
Greg Snedeker, selectman
Town of Gill