GROTON, Vt. (AP) — More than 40 Vermont communities will be considering on Tuesday’s Town Meeting Day whether to join a communications district intended to bring broadband internet services to remote parts of the state.
The districts represent small, rural Vermont communities that have little to no internet service.
“What we want to do is try to empower communities to get the broadband solutions they want — the ones they’ll subscribe to, the ones they’ll support,” said Clay Purvis of the Vermont’s Department of Public Service. “This is kinda the bottom-up model.”
For example, the Northeast Kingdom Collaborative says that less than half the addresses in the northeastern corner of Vermont have access to high-speed internet.
The Federal Communications Commission defines broadband service as a minimum of 25 Megabits per second download and 3 Mbps upload.
MyNBC5.com reports the hope is that broadband companies would see a district with thousands of people as a worthwhile investment, as opposed to a town with just a few hundred people.
Joining a district allows the communities to apply for state grants that would help offset costs for internet companies to provide the services.
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