Massachusetts incentives to provide $25M for build-out

Communities in Massachusetts’ picturesque Berkshire Mountains still depend on dial-up for Internet access. But that’s about to change. The state plans to offer $25M in incentives to private firms to bring broadband to underserved portions of the state, most of them in its western region. The plan, announced yesterday, aims to complete a build-out in more than 90 communities by 2010.Communities in Massachusetts’ picturesque Berkshire Mountains still depend on dial-up for Internet access. But that’s about to change. The state plans to offer $25M in incentives to private firms to bring broadband to underserved portions of the state, most of them in its western region. The plan, announced yesterday, aims to complete a build-out in more than 90 communities by 2010.

A story in The Berkshire Eagle provides a good overview of the program but makes no mention of what benefits beyond high-speed access access might be included in the deal–only that “the division will ask private companies to compete for the state money and may put out a request for broadband infrastructure proposals as early as December. Money will be awarded to the proposals that bring the most infrastructure, like conduits, fiber and wireless towers, into unserved areas.”

Not to diminish the importance of just getting the infrastructure (it’s the first challenge in addressing the digital divide) but I have to wonder if Massachusetts residents will get more out of this than infrastructure and the opportunity to pay whatever rate the winner sets for services. There is no mention here of wholesale provisions, digital divide programs to assist low-income families, or bundled services that can be made available to cities and towns to achieve efficiencies by moving telecommunications services to the Internet and give taxpayers a break. Of course we will not see the RFP for some months. Hopefully, these issues will be addressed.

Click here to read the story.