FairPoint extends broadband reach to 10 additional Vermont towns

FairPoint Communications continues to make progress with its northern New England broadband expansion plan by extending broadband service to 890 homes and businesses in 10 towns in its Vermont territory.

All of the 10 towns are areas that had previously had no options for broadband service: Albany, Barnet, Royalton, Sharon, Clarendon, Shrewsbury, West Rupert and Sandgate, Putney and Westminster.  

"Our next-generation network allows us to expand broadband service into areas with no high-speed Internet access and provide enhanced services across the state," said Beth Fastiggi, FairPoint state president for Vermont, in a release.

Eligible customers will be able to choose speeds that scale up to 15 Mbps.

The projects in the Albany, Barnet, Royalton, Sharon, West Rupert, Sandgate, Putney, Westminster expansions were funded in part by an FCC Connect America Fund (CAF) grant.

Since taking over the Vermont lines from Verizon in 2008, FairPoint said it had invested nearly $100 million in its network in the Green Mountain State and has added 1,100 miles of new fiber, providing high-speed access to 92 percent of its Vermont service areas.

Besides Vermont, FairPoint has made progress in bringing broadband service to its two neighboring northern New England states Maine and New Hampshire. In New Hampshire, it had completed the required network upgrades to make broadband services available to 95 percent of its access lines, while extending broadband to over 10,400 Maine locations in 2013.

For more:
- see the release

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