Letter from Secretary O’Connell
Secretary Daniel O'Connell writes to the Obama-Biden transition team regarding Massachusetts' broadband policy objective. Read the cover letter and proposal.
Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI)
Seeking to Ensure Broadband Access for Un-served Citizens and Businesses in Western Massachusetts
Call for Solutions
The newly established Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) is issuing a “Call for Solutions,” with the goal of engaging with potential broadband providers in its efforts to ensure access to affordable and robust broadband services for un-served businesses and citizens in western Massachusetts. Responses will identify practical, sustainable solutions that encourage public/private partnerships for addressing the digital divide in the western counties of the state.
 © John Fitzpatrick |
| Governor Deval Patrick signs the Massachusetts Broadband Institute into law. |
Established by an act of the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick on August 4th in Goshen, MA, the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) is tasked with meeting the access needs of un-served citizens throughout the Commonwealth. Organized as a division of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the MBI will manage a statewide Massachusetts Broadband Incentive Fund, with up to $40 million to incentivize public/private partnerships which result in new broadband deployment solutions. A search for the MBI Director is currently underway, a position charged with the development and implementation of a plan to achieve the MBI’s priorities for the Commonwealth going forward.
Daniel O’Connell, Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, described the Call for Solutions as “a public, transparent process to solicit conceptual approaches from private firms related to the provision of ubiquitous broadband access to the citizens of the Commonwealth, particularly western Massachusetts, where the digital divide is most acute.”
According to O’Connell, the emphasis is on public-private models of co-investment in critical broadband infrastructure. The Call for Solutions “seeks responses from potential industry partners at all levels of possible collaboration,” he said.
Rep. Daniel Bosley, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, said, “There is great enthusiasm for expanding broadband access to the un-served citizens of the Commonwealth. Access to affordable broadband services is a critical dimension of 21st century economic development—it provides a level playing field for students, residents and businesses in Massachusetts by opening the door to an enormous amount of information and resources.
“It is vital for us, as state leaders,” Bosley said, “to make this happen as soon as we possibly can.”
Towards that end, Berkshire Connect, Pioneer Valley Connect, and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative have been laying the groundwork for the state to achieve affordable, robust broadband access throughout the western Massachusetts region.
- A demand-side survey has drawn more than 5,000 responses, representing explicit gaps in broadband service in the region. The Connects have collaborated with regional planners, the Innovation Institute, and MassGIS to translate survey responses into maps that will help the MBI know where to target its resources and to measure its success.
- A beta-test program piloting wi-fi networks in three communities—Florida, Worthington, and New Salem—has tested the strengths and the limits of wireless technology in rural topography.
- A regional readiness kit is being prepared to provide towns with model bylaws and best practices to help expedite permitting and right of way issues involved with infrastructure investments.
Underlying these efforts is the Patrick-Murray Administration's desire to bring access to affordable broadband connectivity to all municipal governments in Massachusetts; a goal that will become a cornerstone for measuring the progress of MBI in western Massachusetts.
On the federal level, the U.S. Senate recently passed the Broadband Data Improvement Act, a bill that will promote enhanced broadband mapping and enable policymakers to better identify areas of the country that are falling behind when it comes to high-speed Internet access.
Massachusetts Broadband Institute launched, with $40 million to bring broadband to all unserved communities
Gov. Patrick signs new broadband access law at Goshen Town Hall
GOSHEN – The hand-made signs held by the children in front of the Town Hall told the story: “Happy Birthday, Gov. Patrick. Go Broadband.” “Thank you Gov. Patrick. Broadband = Finished Homework, from Aaron and Sam.” And “Kids Need Love, Safety + Broadband.”
 © John Fitzpatrick |
| Gov. Patrick is greeted by young supporter at Massachusetts Broadband Institute launch. |
Almost a year to the day that Gov. Deval Patrick announced his plan to launch a Massachusetts Broadband Institute, he traveled to Goshen to sign the law creating the new $40 million initiative in poignant fashion.
As the crowd of more than 100 well-wishers serenaded Gov. Patrick with “Happy Birthday,” the Governor signed the bill into law.
It was, according to State Sen. Stan Rosenberg (D-Amherst), the first time in history a sitting governor in Massachusetts had officially visited Goshen, a hill-town community west of Northampton along Route 9.
Rosenberg, who introduced Governor Patrick, praised the governor’s leadership. “It’s a promise made, and a promise kept,” he said. “The new law,” Rosenberg continued, “is the result of the effectiveness of Governor Deval Patrick’s leadership.”
For Goshen residents Jeff Blair and Catherine Sands, and their two children, Maya, 11, and Scarlet, 9, the governor’s signing of the new law creating the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) was much more than a symbolic action; it carried with it the promise that within three years, they will no longer have to live in the antiquated dial-up world, forced to drive down to Meekins Library in the neighboring town of Williamsburg in order to connect to high-speed Internet.Broadband Institute
The new Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) will reside at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, with $40 million in funds created through bond financing in what will be known as the new Broadband Incentive Fund. The goal is to bridge the digital divide by investing in the construction of fiber, wireless towers and other critical and long-lived broadband infrastructure. Targeted state investments will attract and complement private sector investment, making it more cost effective for private providers to deliver complete solutions for customers in regions without broadband coverage.
In addition to communities in western Massachusetts, the new Institute will also be working with Open Cape to develop new infrastructure to improve the “inadequate” broadband services on Cape Cod.
Many of the residents in western Massachusetts have waited more than a decade for the promise of broadband to be delivered; it will still take a little more time to turn the new initiative into a working reality.
“When people call tomorrow and ask, ‘When am I getting it?’ I’m going to have to explain it’s going to take some time,” said Sharon Ferry, the business manager for Berkshire Connect, one of the local coalitions which have played a critical leadership role in advocating for affordable broadband services for 11 years.
Rolf Benzian, the chair of the Chesterfield broadband board, who sat in a chair beneath the array of TV cameras to watch the proceedings, concurred with Ferry. “It’s alright to wait on this a bit,” he said. “It takes money to bring it about, especially in the unserved areas,” he said. “In the end, everyone will be connected to fiber optic for broadband, TV and telephone.”