Fiber-optic cables are the present and future of the information superhighway (I’ve always loved that phrase and darned if I’m going to give it up) and they’re finally starting to spread outside through northern New England, sidestepping copper DSL and cable TV service. Even the local phone company has gotten into the act, as I noted recently.
A story in the Valley News alerted me to an interesting part of the expansion: ECFiber, a network owned by 31 towns in east central Vermont. It just raised $11 million in new financing. The story is here.
Municipality-owned fiber networks make a lot of sense but they often face obstacles from private companies that want to keep the business to themselves. I hadn’t heard of a network owned by so many communities, however. That also makes a lot of sense in rural New England.
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