Shutesbury Leverett going high-tech
Daily Hampshire Gazette
January 19, 2004
http://www.dailyhampshiregazette.com/storytmp.cfm?id_no=1170023
SHUTESBURY - An ambitious plan is in the works to create a $5 million
fiber optic network offering high-speed Internet access, cable
television programming and new phone lines into homes.
Formally known as a ''fiber-to-the-home network,'' it would serve
residents in Shutesbury and Leverett, possibly by the end of the
decade, and comes as an outgrowth of a year of research done by members
of the Shutesbury-Leverett Broadband Committee.
Shutesbury and Leverett residents do not currently have cable
television or high-speed Internet access, instead relying upon antennas
and satellites for television and dial-up connections for the Internet.
In the past, the small populations and low density in each community
have prevented interest from providers.
The committee is now seeking a way to pay for the network's up-front
costs and has already lined up a plan to service the debt with user
fees over a five-year period.
''The challenge will be distributing the fiber to each home,'' said
Aron Goldman, chairman of the committee. The lines have to be strung
along existing poles, and then hooked up to each home, he said.
Every home would have access to the network, though no one would be
obligated to use it.
The group, which would incorporate as a municipal utility, cooperative
or nonprofit, is hoping to obtain a U.S. Department of Agriculture
Rural Utility Grant to provide 80 percent of the capital to get the
project off the ground within the next five to 10 years. The ''grant''
is actually a loan that would have to be paid back.
Vendors would then be hired to install the lines, bill customers and do
routine maintenance on the system.
With projections of 1,100 subscribers in the 1,800 households in
Leverett and Shutesbury within five years, the network could raise $4.8
million.
''User fees can take care of that (debt) in a relatively short period
of time,'' Goldman said. ''We want to make it clear that this will be a
substantial revenue source, not a liability, for the towns.''
While there is a chance that a service provider could step in once the
infrastructure work is complete, Goldman said this wouldn't be a
problem because his group would then have the ability to sell the new
network to that provider.
The network would offer services that are currently not available at
any price to Leverett and Shutesbury residents, and Goldman expects the
prices to be less for consumers than those charged for similar services
in larger municipalities where they are available, such as Amherst or
Northampton.
Current estimates show that a ''basic'' service, which would include
two e-mail accounts, Internet service and broadcast television networks
- such as ABC and CBS - would cost $40 per month. The ''premium''
service, at $90, would add cable television with an undetermined number
of channels, phone line voice mail and long-distance phone service. The
''pro'' service, for $140, would offer an additional four phone lines,
500 megabytes of Web hosting and three extra e-mail accounts.
These rates would be lower than, for instance, service offered by
Comcast, which charges $45 for basic cable and Internet services, $45
more for premium channels, and an additional $30 for each phone line
and $60 for unlimited long-distance phone access.
Such a system would be particularly helpful to home businesses and
telecommuters, teachers and students, and those with special needs,
Goldman said.
''It's very exciting, you've come a long way in a short time,'' said
Shutesbury Board of Selectmen chairwoman Rebecca Torres.
Shutesbury and Leverett selectmen have both agreed to send letters to
area legislators endorsing the concept.
''We've been quite pleased with the 'street cred' we've acquired,''
Goldman said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
