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Date: 2/22/2022
EASTHAMPTON – The city of Easthampton is continuing the process of bringing municipal broadband to its businesses and residents. According to Information Technology Director Karin Moyano-Camihort, recent street surveys aimed to identify the specific number of houses and customers there will be and how much fiber will be needed in each area.
Moyano-Camihort said that bringing municipal broadband to the city began in 2018 with the formation of the Easthampton Telecommunications Advisory. The advisory’s goal was to do research on implementing new internet connectivity and study citizen response.
Easthampton’s only option for internet is Charter. Many residents have spoken out against the company’s reliability and price.
“At that time other cities, Greenfield, South Hadley, were getting their own public municipal internet. So, based on that study, they found that the citizens were interested in having more options,” said Moyano-Camihort
COVID-19 has also greatly exacerbated the necessity of fast, reliable and fairly priced internet, according to Moyano-Camihort. With many people working from home and schools teaching remotely during 2020, the city decided to continue their efforts of bringing municipal broadband in as quickly as possible.
“It became fundamental during that time and continues, as we know,” said Moyano-Camihort.
Easthampton has now partnered with South Hadley for the preliminary planning and design study.
Based on street surveys, they will design a possible layout of the new fiber connectivity. The design and planning will give the city a good estimate of what is needed to continue and how much it will cost.
“It’s a very, very important piece as we position ourselves to look for funding. This is a very expensive proposition, but given the available funds that we hear are out there for infrastructure and for fiber, one of the first steps is to have a plan and a design so you’re a trusted recipient of any funding and they know that we’re serious,” said Moyano-Camihort.
She said that they hope to finalize the planning and design by the end of March. The city will then start applying for the necessary funding and grants.
“We are hoping that some funding will be available and then we are going to listen to the recommendations of South Hadley on how to move forward,” said Moyano-Camihort.
To begin implementing the municipal broadband into the city, Moyano-Camihort anticipates that they will start with a “fiberhood” and then move into offering the new service into other parts of Easthampton over time.
“It will be tremendously expensive and time consuming. So, depending on what we find, what the advice is from these surveys and what funding we may be able to tap into, it may take a year. But it depends. We’re hoping and we’re moving as fast as we can to try to do everything properly and correctly so there are no push backs or delays,” she said.
Moyano-Camihort is looking forward to the better service the municipal broadband will provide to residents.
“Having good internet services is fundamental for our businesses and for our homes, for schooling, for working from home, it’s what we need in today’s society,” she said.
Future updates will be available on the city of Easthampton website at https://easthamptonma.gov/.