Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Greenlight Networks has made great headway since they started installing fiber internet service throughout Western New York in 2021. Greenlight is in more than 45,000 homes across the region and they're adding to that total this year.
The rollout hasn't moved at fiber-optic speed, though. Greenlight Networks CEO Mark Murphy attributes that to regulations that haven't been updated in about 20 years.
"They've been slightly updated, but for the last 20 or so years it's just very challenging to go through the process and it just takes a long time," Murphy told WBEN on Tuesday morning. "It takes us about 18 months from the time we apply until the time we get up the pole."
Erie County is currently trying its own fiber internet project called ErieNet. That project has been delayed by negotiations with utilities. It's been especially troublesome hooking up to utility poles for the county. Greenlight has run into the same issues.
"That's why frankly it's taken us a lot longer than we wish it would to build out the 50-or-so thousand homes we've already connected throughout Western New York and hope to continue to build."
Murphy credits his team for working around the regulatory difficulties and figuring things out.
"We've got a really great group of experts that understand what it takes to get up on the poles. We've got very dedicated construction crews, whether that's our internal crews or our partners that help us do that. It's really, really hard to get up on poles in New York State."
Greenlight will continue to get on the poles as the year reaches its final months. The company is investing $25 million this year to expand to thousands of homes in Tonawanda, Niagara Falls and Lancaster.
