HAWLEY — Selectboard members say they are frustrated with a lack of progress from telecommunications company Spectrum on building a broadband network in town.
Last summer, Spectrum Northeast LLC was awarded a $4.9 million grant through the Massachusetts Broadband Institute’s Gap Networks Grant Program to support the installation of broadband infrastructure in Hawley, Monroe, Florida and Savoy. The program requires that awardees provide service offering internet speeds of 100 megabits per second for downloads and 100 megabits per second for uploads in areas that are considered to be underserved and lacking in sufficient broadband. The program also requires that the work be completed by December 2026.
More than a year later, Hawley Selectboard members say the only progress they’ve seen has been Spectrum crews measuring utility poles in town.
“So the story with broadband is they were hoping to start this fall. They’re now pushing that to the first quarter of 2026,” Administrative Assistant Tinky Weisblat told the board.
Weisblat said Spectrum told her that delays were due to challenges coordinating with other utility companies that have equipment on the utility poles throughout Hawley.
Selectboard Chair Will Cosby expressed frustration with the inefficiency of utility work, saying it can take “three weeks for one pole.”
“You’ve got the guy who drills the hole, and then another guy to balance the pole, and line the pole, and so far no wires have been touched,” Cosby said.
Selectboard members agreed to draft a letter that will be sent to MBI and the state Department of Public Utilities to voice their concerns and urge the agencies to push the utility companies to work faster.
“I just want to bring it to their attention that we are treading water and not actually swimming. We would like to see some progress,” Cosby said. “It’s been over a year since Charter [secured] the contract, and basically, we’ve had some guys measure our poles. That’s all I’ve seen. I haven’t seen any work.”
Heidi Vandenbrouck, a regional communications director for Spectrum, said Wednesday that the company does not have a timeline for completion of the project, but is “committed to delivering cutting-edge internet technology and continually improving our services to meet the future needs of our customers in Massachusetts.”
