Consolidated Communications has reached an agreement with the town of Brooklin, Maine to upgrade and expand the community’s current high-speed broadband infrastructure in such a way that it will pave the way for future growth and enhancements.
Together, the town and the company have designed an incremental network build that will add fiber capacity, upgrade equipment and provide back-up provisions, resulting in significantly faster, highly reliable, broadband connectivity.
Consolidated and Brooklin will share the cost of constructing the network, which is targeted to be completed by June 2020.
In 2017, Consolidated Communications completed four broadband projects in Brooklin under the FCC’s Connect America Fund, Phase 2, (CAF II) program.
The FCC CAF II program expands access to voice and broadband services in areas where it is unavailable by providing funds to local service providers to subsidize the cost of building new network infrastructure or performing network upgrades.
The company also has completed 304 broadband projects in Maine or more than 80 percent of its funded locations, exceeding the 60-percent 2018 program requirement.
When the program ends in 2020, Consolidated Communications will bring broadband services to a minimum of 35,500 eligible, underserved locations in the state, the company says.
Last year, the company completed a significant broadband upgrade project delivering faster speeds to 500,000 residents and small businesses throughout Northern New England, including 200,000 across Maine. Upgraded homes and businesses throughout New England now can get speeds two to three times faster than what was previously available.
Additionally, residents and businesses now have access to the latest, on-demand streaming content, including HBO Now, DIRECTV Now, fuboTV and Philo.
