ECFiber Press Release - FINAL

White River Junction, VT - March 6, 2008

LANDSLIDE FOR BROADBAND! CUSTOMERS WANTED

BROADBAND LANDSLIDE

27 area towns voted overwhelmingly to join together to build a community-owned optical fiber broadband network known as ECFiber (short for East Central Vermont Community Fiber Network). The landslide started over the weekend when voters in four towns with early town meetings (Hartford, Thetford, Woodstock and Reading) cast hundreds of votes in favor, with only two against the proposal. It continued on Monday night when Randolph approved the idea with only 2 dissenting votes. And it finished on Tuesday when the remaining 21 towns added their emphatic voices to the chorus. The 23 voice vote towns were essentially unanimous and the 4 paper ballot towns had 80% majorities (full results are at www.ECFiber.net.)

UNSERVED HOUSEHOLDS

Over half the households in these towns have neither broadband Internet nor cable TV. Indeed, the unserved households in the ECFiber territory are estimated to constitute nearly 1 in 6 of all such households in Vermont. Businesses are strapped, kids can’t do homework, schools struggle and people who need connectivity move out and others refuse to come. No major incumbent carrier is willing to bring truly state-of-the-art infrastructure to these towns – although Verizon is building this exact type of network in its urban and suburban markets to the south. So, in keeping with a long history of independent Vermont communities, the ECFiber towns have decided to do it themselves.

STATE-OF-THE-ART NETWORK

The community–owned ECFiber network will be state-of-the-art and will serve every single home, business and institution in the participating towns. It will also be “open access” — meaning anyone with a business, cultural or community idea can use it—just like the public roads. In addition to almost infinite digital cable television capacity, the network will also offer traditional telephone service and state-of-the-art high speed internet - all at prices below what area citizens now pay for slower, less advanced services. It will also provide a low cost means for introducing multiple new services not possible using the older infrastructure, including tele-health, distance education and other public services. It will also provide an outlet for new local business initiatives, since even the most remote homestead will be able to access the most modern internet sites and services.

FINANCIALLY SELF-SUSTAINING

The network will be entirely self-financed from private lenders and customer revenues - requiring no resources from municipal taxpayers. Indeed, state law clearly prohibits any taxpayer funds from being used to finance or operate such a network. Tim Nulty, Project Director for the proposed network, was asked why incumbent carriers decline to build such infrastructure, but the communities can? He replied that “communities have a completely different perspective and view this as a public utility rather than a profit center. While the ECFiber project needs to pay for itself, it doesn't need to provide the profits that a private corporation would require. This changes the economics dramatically.”

NEXT STEP - RAISING THE CAPITAL

Stan Williams, Board Chair of local non-profit ValleyNet, which will be working with the ECFiber towns to build and operate the network, cautioned that there is still a long way to go. “The current turmoil in the capital markets means that it will be a challenge to raise the financing,” said Stan, “but we are confident that we have a solid, viable business case and that we will be able to convince the financial markets of this. Assistance and support from the newly formed Vermont Telecommunications Authority will be very helpful in this effort.”

CUSTOMERS WANTED!

Over 1,500 households in the towns had already pre-registered for the service before town meeting and thousand of forms were handed out before and after the town meetings - ECFiber is aiming for at least 5,000 pre-registrations by the end of April. A large number of pre-registrations, combined with the overwhelmingly positive nature of the town votes, will help ECFiber raise private municipal capital lease financing this spring and summer. Pre-registration can be done at www.ECFiber.net/pre-register or by calling ValleyNet at (802) 359 4162. Businesses and institutions can support the project by signing the general statement of support and encouraging employees and customers to pre-register.

STATE SUPPORT

The ECFiber project is the first major project to come out of the Governor’s “E-State Initiative” and the resulting telecom Act 79 which was passed the legislature last summer with near unanimous bi-partisan support. Michele Boomhower, Executive Director of the Lamoille County Regional Planning Commission, who has been following this and other similar projects around the state, summed it up, noting that “This will be the biggest economic development initiative in Vermont since the Interstate Highway system.”

TIMETABLE

After the town meeting vote, interested selectboards will sign an Interlocal Contract and join together with other towns to complete their legal, technical and financial due diligence. In September, once private financing has been raised, towns will need to make a final commitment to a non-recourse capital lease. Subscriber hookups will begin in the late 2009.

Press Contact:
Stan Williams
802 384-5664 (Mobile)
Tim Nulty
802 363-6660 (Mobile)
info@ecfiber.net