CARIBOU, Maine — With many options on the table, Caribou city councilors will soon delve deeper into discussions on how to best guarantee high-speed internet to all residents and businesses.
Though several internet providers maintain copper wires in more populated areas, city officials want to invest in a dark fiber network that could establish more modern, faster internet speeds regardless of a home’s or business’ location.
Caribou has been exploring how to best install that type of network since approving the use of $159,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to conduct a broadband engineering study. Councilors have heard several presentations from internet providers and other local groups interested in building that network for the city.
Pioneer Broadband, which is partnering with Caribou’s Business Investment Group for the engineering study, recently presented its initial findings to the council. There are 5,150 potential residents who could be served under universal broadband, with 2,900 of them living in more remote regions of the city where there is insufficient coverage.
Internet providers who have proposed broadband plans include Consolidated Communications and Spectrum. Pioneer Broadband and the Caribou Utilities District have also been partners on a developing broadband project that could go forward even without a formalized city partnership.
Councilors plan to discuss each broadband option further at their next regular meeting on Monday, Feb. 28.
Though all providers are promising 100 percent “fiber-to-the-premise” networks, the amount of involvement and financial investment from city officials vary with each proposed plan.
If Consolidated Communications or Spectrum were to build the city’s fiber network, the company would own the network and would be in charge of signing up and billing customers. The city would have little involvement financially but would not receive revenue from broadband services. Neither company has guaranteed exactly when or if they could bring fiber service to the more remote regions of the city.
The CUD has also made the city aware of a broadband network it has been looking to construct for several years with the help of the BIG and Pioneer.
During a public workshop on Tuesday, Feb. 22, CUD General Manager Hugh Kirkpatrick said that the CUD plans to build a fiber optic network, with a central location for internet providers’ servers on Sincock Street.
Unlike the current copper wiring, dark fiber would produce speeds of one gigabit per second, with potential to increase up to 10 gigabits per second, Kirkpatrick said.
“This is a state-of-the-art fiber optic network that will deliver whatever speeds are required in the future,” Kirkpatrick said. “The copper lines [the city has now] will need upgrades, but fiber won’t need an upgrade for at least 30 years.”
Currently, the CUD’s charter does not allow the organization, which is not a city department, to establish a broadband infrastructure division. But CUD officials have submitted a proposed charter amendment to the state Legislature to allow it. Kirkpatrick expects the Legislature to vote on the amendment this spring.
If approved, the CUD would place an order for fiber optic cable, which would include a wait time of at least 38-58 weeks. It would spend the remainder of 2022 and early 2023 applying for broadband-related grants to offset the city’s potential investment. Depending on grant funds and fiber delivery, construction could begin in spring or early summer 2023.
Though the CUD could continue with the project without partnering with the city, Kirkpatrick encouraged the council to consider investing in the project. In recent meetings, the CUD and council have discussed the possibility of the city investing between $1.2 million and $1.5 million for purchasing the initial fiber cables.
Even if the city chooses not to financially invest in the CUD and Pioneer’s project and instead goes with Spectrum or Consolidated as the network builder and operator, the CUD would seek its own financing through loans and grants, Kirkpatrick said.
Pioneer has drafted a network design and has expressed interest in being an internet provider to the network. The CUD would own and operate the network independently of the city. Internet providers who sign on to the network would be responsible for billing customers based on their companies’ fees.
“If the city chose Consolidated or Spectrum, that would not stop the [CUD/Pioneer project],” Kirkpatrick said. “We feel that we have the best option for providing fiber optic service to anyone in the city. We don’t believe the private companies have the intention to do that.”
Many councilors disagreed on whether the city should financially invest in the CUD’s network proposal.
“I think it’s a good investment,” Councilor Doug Morrell said. “If you’re dealing with a private company, all that money could be squandered, but [with a CUD partnership] the money stays in the city.”
But John Morrill questioned how the CUD could recruit enough customers if some are already satisfied with their internet service from a current provider.
Kirkpatrick said that CUD would focus first on the city’s most rural customers and then those in less remote areas through an aggressive marketing campaign.
“We’re trying to be very conservative with our projections. There are probably 2,050 customers in the business zone who are happy with their service now,” Kirkpatrick said. “They’ll only switch if we can promise them higher speeds at the lowest costs.”
Councilor Joan Theriault remained skeptical and said that perhaps the council should look more closely at its broadband options before making a decision.
“Not one of us in this room believes that everyone shouldn’t have broadband. But I think there’s a way to do this that is less risky and less expensive for us,” Theriault said.
Per the request of City Mayor Jody Smith, the Feb. 28 council meeting will include an agenda item for a discussion about broadband. That meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the council chambers, located in the Caribou Municipal Building on 25 High St.
