In May NEK Broadband was the first entity in the U.S. Northeast to receive a grant from the USDA’s ReConnect program of $17.5 million to provide internet for parts of NEK’s 22 most rural towns. Check out this map [LINK}, that the funding is going to cover most of Essex County.
The network we’ll be building starting next year will include getting fiber cable all the way to your home, and a free router to go inside it!. Where we start building will depend on a number of factors, including demonstrated interest from towns that are covered by the grant. So, encourage your fellow residents to pre-register at get.nekbroadband.org.
For those not covered by the grant, this award means that any previous funding that we had designated for those rural areas can now be used for expanding our network plans in other towns.