Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR): 22 Vermont Towns Join East Central Vermont Community Fiber Network
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2008
12:18 PM
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CONTACT: Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR)
Brooke Gullikson
Tel. 612-379-3815
Email: bgullikson@ilsr.org
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22 Vermont Towns Join East Central Vermont Community Fiber Network
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MINNEAPOLIS, MN - March 5 -
The Institute for Local
Self-Reliance (ILSR) congratulates the 22 Vermont towns that have voted
to join the East Central Vermont Community Fiber Network. These rural
towns have rejected dependency on outside providers in order to build
the infrastructure they need.
At least nine of the towns were unanimous in their support of the
publicly owned fiber network. Many of the other towns still registered
over 90% support for the measure.
“These towns have made the right decision,” said Christopher Mitchell,
Director of the Telecommunications as Commons Initiative at ILSR. “Small
towns across the United States have suffered from under-investment in
telecommunications and these communities realized they can solve their
broadband problems with smart public investments.”
Mitchell recently published a report on municipal networks entitled
“Municipal Broadband: Demystifying Wireless and Fiber-Optic Options.”
The report examines available broadband technologies and explains why
fiber is a sound community investment.
The proposed Vermont network will be state-of-the-art, offering
residents faster broadband speeds than experienced from cable or DSL–
which are generally unavailable to them currently.
Tim Nulty, who built the nearby Burlington Telecom fiber network, will
manage the EC Community Fiber Network construction. He is committed to
wiring every last person in each town. “We will even run the network to
the house in the hollow down the dirt road,” proclaimed Nulty.
“Vermont Businesses and citizens alike are starved for modern
connectivity to conduct transactions and participate in modern media,”
noted Mitchell. “Not only will many of these communities finally have
access to broadband, the network will wholesale network access to other
providers, offering subscribers true choices and competition.”
Since 1974, ILSR has worked with citizen groups, governments and private
businesses in developing practices that extract the maximum value from
local resources.
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