Last year we noted how “scrappy” Island residents in Maine were taking matters into their own hands and building their own fiber broadband networks despite massive financial and logistic challenges. One such community, Isle au Haut, says it has completed its fiber deployment with ample help from locals – and federal and state grants.
After a decade of planning, several dozen residents of the island (with a summer population of around 300) recently celebrated a ribbon cutting ceremony on June 28, alongside build partners that included the Island Institute, Axiom Technologies, and Hawkeye Fiber Optics.
The deployment required the construction of a new six mile undersea fiber run, the creation of a new central switch station near the town landing, and last mile fiber deployment to residents currently connected to the power grid. All overseen by the The Isle Au Haut Broadband Committee, first established back in 2018.
In 2022, Isle au Haut was awarded a grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, (NTIA) with matching funds contributed by the State of Maine and the Maine Connectivity Authority.
Before the fiber build, the island only saw extremely sluggish broadband access courtesy of microwave wireless signals that would often fail during periods of intense weather (which coastal Maine experiences often), Sue Foelix, a member of the Isle au Haut Broadband Committee, recently told Broadband Breakfast.
The first local Isle Au Haut residents were connected back in February. Officials say that 94 percent of residents pre-registered to subscribe for broadband access. While the network is owned by the city, last-mile service is technically provided by Axion Technologies.
The company provides seasonal and year round broadband tiers and pricing.
Year-round residents have the option of symmetrical 50 megabits per second (Mbps) for $65 a month; symmetrical 100 Mbps for $80 a month; and symmetrical 250 Mbps for $100 a month. Seasonal residents can get symmetrical 50 Mbps for $663 a year; symmetrical 100 Mbps for $816 a year; and symmetrical 250 Mbps for $1020 a year.
Axion also rents users a home gateway/router for an additional $7.50 a month, as well as Internet-based phone service for $25 a month.
“The service on Isle au Haut is the kind of service many people in New York City still want,” says Axion Technologies CEO Mark Ouellette recently told the Penobscot Bay Press.
Foelix hopes that Isle Au Haut’s successes will be an inspiration for other Maine island communities desperate for better connectivity.
“I guess the message would be for any remote communities who still don’t have access, to persevere,” she said.
Header image of Isle au Haut lighthouse courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons license, Attribution 2.0 Generic
Inline image of Isle au Haut fiber deployment courtesy of Isle au Haut website
