Maine has ambitious broadband plan for fiber-optic internet service for 'everyone who wants it' by the end of 2024

Josh Landry installs fiber-optic cable in Dedham, Maine.
(Photo by Carolyn Campbell, The Daily Yonder)

Just because Maine is the second most rural state (61.4% the 2020 census, second only to Vermont's 65%) doesn't mean it can't be the most connected. Gov. Janet Mills "has pledged that everyone in the state who wants high-speed internet will be able to get it by the end of 2024, whether they live in more populous areas around Portland or in the state’s extensive rural regions, where more than half the state’s population resides," reports Carolyn Campbell of The Daily Yonder.

Campbell uses the northeastern Maine town of Dedham, pop. 1,700, as an example of the lengths the state has gone to: "Laying fiber cable to remote regions is the first phase . . . . Moore Fiber Solutions completed installing 60 miles of fiber optic cable as part of Dedham’s broadband infrastructure build-out. . . . Many internet service providers have avoided this last stretch of connectivity, termed the 'last mile,' between the ISP network and the users in homes and businesses. The reasoning is that the cost of laying and maintaining fiber-optic cable in remote regions is too expensive."

The project is already over budget, and its expense has drawn criticism, but Downeast Broadband Utility President Danny Sullivan told Campbell: “Fiber is the only platform that provides equal download and upload speeds. Whether you’re a content creator, a business, a health entity, or even a retired person receiving telehealth care, fast upload speed is a fundamental necessity. It’s time to stop reinventing this wheel and get fiber installed to businesses and homes in all communities, no matter how rural.” John Moore, a fiber-optic installer who worked on Dedham's project, told Campbell, “Last year as we were laying cable, kids would be sitting on their porch without the ability to connect to school online. Getting fiber’s gonna change their life.”

The funding for Maine's expansion is ongoing and includes money from both state and federal coffers. "Maine’s 2020 Broadband Plan estimated the total cost to build out 17,502 miles currently unserved by fiber-optic or coax cable would be at least $600 million," Campbell reports. "To advance digital equity for all Mainers, regardless of ZIP code, in 2021 the state created the Maine Connectivity Authority, a quasi-public agency, to leverage state and federal investment in broadband infrastructure through partnerships with private providers and rural communities."