Town of Edwards releases info to help TDS Telecom bring better Internet service to area
by Rachel Hunter
The Town of Edwards has released information on its underground utilities to aid TDS Telecom bring better high-speed, broadband Internet service to area residents.
TDS Telecom (TDS®) will soon expand broadband to nearly 9,000 locations in New York, thanks to funding from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The FCC allocated an average of $3.1 million a year for the next 10 years to reach residents in some of the hardest to serve areas in New York. The funding will also be used to maintain a voice and broadband network as well as building out to these locations.
New York residents can now visit the TDS website to find out how this federal program may impact their location. As TDS finalizes the engineering and buildout plans, more details, including project start dates, will be added to the website.
Depending on location, most TDS customers in eligible rural areas will receive guaranteed broadband speeds of 25Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload (25/3). Under the agreement with the FCC, the remaining customers will receive broadband service at lower speeds of 10/1 and 4/1Mbps.
“We are proud to be part of this massive modernization project with the FCC,” said Scott Brooks, manager – state government affairs at TDS. “We are eager to begin work to build faster connections to nearly 9,000 locations in New York.”
Last month it was announced that TDS elected to receive approximately $75.1 million a year to increase broadband access in 25 states from the FCC’s Alternative Connect America Cost Model, under the Connect America Fund (CAF) program. TDS will leverage the funds over the next 10 years to support the buildout of rural broadband networks to nearly 160,000 locations across the country.
TDS has been doing business in New York since 1973 and owns six telephone companies in the state. TDS employs 32 people in New York.
For nearly a decade, TDS has worked with FCC Commissioners, their staff and federal trade associations to create a plan to allow for the expansion of rural networks served by rate-of-return companies, including TDS. CAF ensures more residents of rural America will have access to improved broadband service and reliable speeds.
Town of Edwards Highway Superintendent Duane Sykes said the following in regards to the project at the Feb. 8 town board meeting:
“They are going to use existing utility poles, but if they need to set some, they need to know where the underground utilities are,” he said. “It’s pretty cut and dried. The Development Authority of the North Country has all the information on a disc and just emailed it to them. So that is going to be happening. I am guessing this summer there will be high-speed internet everywhere. It’ll be fiber optics.”
The next meeting of the Town of Edwards board is to be held on March 8 at 7 p.m. at the Edwards Town Hall.