Fairhaven, Massachusetts

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The Berkshires Broadband Movement: How 19 Small Towns Built Their Own Fiber Future - Episode 668 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast

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In this episode of the podcast, Chris and ILSR Senior Researcher Jess Auer talk with David Kulp, a broadband advocate in Western Massachusetts, about one of the most ambitious rural fiber projects in the country. 

They trace the story of how more than a dozen tiny hill towns—some with only a few hundred residents—banded together to form the Wired West cooperative, organize hundreds of volunteers, and push the state to invest in real last-mile infrastructure rather than “good enough” service.

David shares how the project survived shifting state priorities, skepticism from policymakers, and repeated attempts to push towns into private broadband deals. 

The group discusses construction challenges, the crucial role of Westfield Gas & Electric as an operational partner, and why locally owned networks now enjoy take rates as high as 80–90 percent. 

Check out Jess's report on Western Massachusetts here.

This show is 35 minutes long and can be played on this page or via Apple Podcasts or the tool of your choice using this feed.

You can also check out the video version via YouTube.

Transcript below.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Listen to other episodes or view all episodes in our index. See other podcasts from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license

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Municipalities Across Massachusetts Move Toward Muni Broadband

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Cities and towns all over Massachusetts are looking for alternatives to the big incumbent Internet Service Providers in their communities as citizens across the Commonwealth have grown weary of the high-cost, second-rate Internet service – and lack of competition – that plagues markets dominated by monopoly providers.

Gov. Charlie Baker and state lawmakers have yet to settle on how much of the Commonwealth’s American Rescue Plan funds should be devoted to expanding access to affordable and reliable high-speed Internet service in the Bay State. Meanwhile, a growing number of local leaders and community advocates are positioning themselves for the possibility of creating municipal telecommunications utilities to build publicly-owned broadband infrastructure.

Falmouth Leads the Way on Cape Cod

On Cape Cod in the Town of Falmouth (pop. 32,517), the citizen-led non-profit FalmouthNet is making major strides in bringing town-wide fiber-to-the-home Internet service to the second-largest municipality on the southeastern Massachusetts peninsula. (Full disclosure: both Sean Gonsalves and Christopher Mitchell serve as FalmouthNet Advisory Board members).

Having completed a feasibility study last year that laid out a detailed market analysis and financial forecast for building the estimated $55 million town-wide fiber network, FalmouthNet recently announced it has signed a contract with Tilson, a telecom construction and engineering firm based in Portland, Maine, to design the network.

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