ECFiber Seeks Private Sector Funding

For Immediate Release 2/26/2010

In response to the notice of the USDA’s Rural Utility Service decision not to provide a loan to fund ECFiber’s project, ECFiber is re-activating its public offering of Certificates of Participation (COPs) in a capital lease.

“Of course we are somewhat disappointed, but are pleased that the Municipal Capital Lease markets have come back,” says Loredo Sola, ECFiber’s Governing Board Chair. “This could be a blessing in disguise. The limitations associated with the RUS money complicated the picture quite a bit, and the sales cycle for COPs is considerably faster than the RUS funding cycle.”

After the economic downturn, the municipal capital market essentially went away, so ECFiber applied for a loan through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, administered by the RUS. ECFiber’s reading of the guidelines suggested that their project fit perfectly into the mission of the ARRA’s broadband program. RUS awards, however, appeared to favor incumbent telecommunications companies and previous RUS borrowers.

Project director Tim Nulty says “this is a disappointment for sure, but it is not the end of ECFiber. We should be able to get our public offering to market very quickly. It was ready to go just before Lehman Brothers went under. If we’d gone to market three weeks earlier, people would be enjoying ECFiber’s service now. We are still hoping to begin hanging fiber this year.”

No Vermont broadband projects have received funding through the ARRA. The public offering will be underwritten by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., an investment bank.

For more information, contact Bob Merrill, 802-457-4938,