ErieNet moves forward across Erie County

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Erie County says the next steps are going into place as 400-plus miles of cable is being installed across the county. The county says the goal is to have ErieNet provide high speed internet next year.

ErieNet Executive Director Melissa Hartman says they've basically laid the conduit in some underground locations, marking the beginning of actual construction. "But we've really been in construction for quite a while now, and it's what's called a make ready process. That's taking all of the utility poles and getting them ready so that our fiber can be laid on the poles," explains Hartman.

While that has been funded by ARPA, Hartman says she's excited about an opportunity to get help from Albany. She says the New York State Broadband Office's ConnectAll is going to be opening up additional applications for infrastructure broadband across New York state. "One of the infrastructure programs they're going to be doing it's called the municipal infrastructure program. That will be helping counties like ours, take and expand open access networks like ours, and and make sure that we are connecting to under and unserved communities, which is exactly the purpose of ErieNet," says Hartman.

Hartman says every connection creates another opportunity for internet providers to come to rural and inner city areas. "This is an open access dark fiber, they'll come in and they'll be able to utilize that backbone that would have cost them millions of dollars, obviously, to get to these communities," notes Hartman. "Now we're there, and so they'll be able to offer what other examples of open access networks have very low cost, high speed internet that didn't exist previously, and it also creates competition, which is a goal of an open access network."

ErieNet is expected to launch by this time next year.