Vermont broadband program to cover costs of trickiest fiber drop lines

The Vermont Community Broadband Board on Wednesday announced a new program designed to help cover the costs of installing fiber drop lines to connect homes farthest away from existing networks.

The Affordable Long Drop Program will provide grants to eligible internet service providers to help cover connection costs for installing long or nonstandard “drop lines,” the cables that connect providers’ networks to customers’ homes.

Under the program, ISPs will continue to cover the cost of connecting addresses that are considered “standard drops,” homes 500-2,000 feet away from the fiber that runs along utility poles on the road.

But for more remote customers or those who require drop lines that need to be installed underground, the program will cover the additional costs that are usually incurred by homeowners. According to a news release, such installations can sometimes cost thousands of dollars.

The program will cover all costs of installing nonstandard drop lines, including those for underground installations. The state said it will prioritize funding to install new connections for manufactured home communities, low- to moderate-income Vermonters and customers at eligible addresses who have already signed up and committed to a fiber service, but don’t have access.

Eligible ISPs include Vermont Communications Union Districts, or CUDs, small communications carriers or internet service providers that are working in conjunction with a CUD to expand broadband service to unserved and underserved locations in Vermont.

“While grant programs such as the Vermont Community Broadband Fund have helped CUDs bring fiber-optic service to underserved areas, funding to connect every household remains a challenge,” Ellie de Villiers, chair of the Vermont Communications Union Districts Association and executive director of Maple Broadband, a community broadband collaborative, said in the release. “The cost of some of these connections is simply too high for households as well as rural providers such as CUDs. The Affordable Long Drop Program will directly address this issue.”

The state will accept applications from August 29 through Sept. 12.