HUNTINGTON — Many of the 100 or so households in Huntington that don’t have access to high-speed Internet through Comcast should be connected to broadband within the next two years.
Huntington and Pelham in Hampshire County, and Montague, Shelburne, Northfield, Buckland and Conway in Franklin County, are among nine “partially served” towns assured, through an agreement between the Massachusetts Broadband Institute and Comcast, that at least 96 percent of their homes and businesses will have broadband connections.
The agreement, in which the state is supplying $4 million through the “last-mile” broadband fund to reimburse some of the costs associated with Comcast’s work, was announced Monday by Gov. Charlie Baker.
“This public-private partnership will deliver sustainable, reliable and cost-effective broadband connectivity to nine rural communities that previously faced significant coverage gaps, allowing nearly 1,100 households and businesses to participate more fully in the digital economy,” Baker said in a statement.
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, said in a statement he was pleased that negotiations, which began in March, were successful.
“This is a wonderful day for all citizen advocacy groups, and state, local and federal government officials, who have worked so hard to make this happen,” Rosenberg said.
MBI in March agreed to negotiate with Comcast to extend cable lines in towns where the cable company already had a presence.
MBI has been charged with overseeing completion of “last-mile” high-speed broadband in about three dozen towns with no high-speed broadband access, including Cummington, Goshen, Shutesbury, Charlemont and Hawley. But those towns are not affected by this deal.
Chris Saner, chairman of the Huntington Cable Advisory Committee, said Monday he is “cautiously optimistic” that the agreement will be good for his town.
“My reaction is obviously I’m thrilled, but disappointed it took over two years since Gov. (Deval) Patrick signed the grant to get this done,” Saner said.
Saner added that MBI’s actions to date leave him less than optimistic and wondering how many more delays will occur before more Huntington residents get broadband.
State Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, called the agreement great news. Comcast will have a maximum of 24 months to complete the project in all nine communities, but a significant amount of this work will happen sooner, he said.
“There are very measurable, hard milestones for Comcast to meet that will keep this moving forward,” Kulik said.
Kulik said he anticipates many households will gain broadband connections before 2018.
In Huntington, if 96 percent have broadband, that would still leave about 40 households unserved. Because the town is in the midst of renewing its contract with Comcast, Saner said, any shortfall in the broadband buildout will have to be factored in.
“My hope, as chairman of the Cable Advisory Committee, is we will get Comcast to build out as many of the residences as possible,” Saner said, adding that some areas may be so remote that it will prove impossible.
Kulik said Comcast and MBI officials will be meeting to go over designs. Residents in the nine communities, which also include Chester in Hampden County and Hardwick in Worcester County, will soon know if they will have broadband.
It is possible that further private and public investment will allow some “partially served” communities to get to full broadband coverage, Kulik said. Officials in Shelburne are considering a way to do this, he said.
Another $1 million from the “last mile” broadband fund will be used to cover work done by MBI, Kulik said.
Michael Parker, regional senior vice president for Comcast in the western New England region, said in a statement that the company sought out this opportunity.
“This will create new and convenient ways for residents and businesses to access the communications tools, educational resources and content they need,” Parker said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
