STATE GRANT FOR WIDESPREAD BROADBAND SERVICE

Sullivan County is poised to dramatically expand high-speed broadband internet service thanks to a nearly $30 million grant. Governor Kathy Hochul and U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand recently announced more than $140 million in awards from the ConnectALL Municipal Infrastructure Grant Program to expand broadband infrastructure throughout New York state. These public-private partnerships will lead to the construction of more than 1,200 miles of publicly owned fiber-optic infrastructure and wireless hubs, connecting over 60,000 homes and businesses with affordable, symmetric service off ering equal download and upload speeds at a price below regional averages.

“This is incredible news, I’m elated,” said Sullivan County Legislature Chair Nadia Rajsz. “We have been working toward this goal for years and now we can confidently move forward to bring every part of Sullivan County into the 21st century of super-high-speed and affordable internet access.”

“This award represents the largest grant Sullivan County has ever received for a single project and we are immensely grateful to Governor Hochul and Empire State Development for their faith in and advocacy for this important project,” said Sullivan County Manager Joshua A. Potosek. “In collaboration with our longtime partner Archtop Fiber, we now have the opportunity to launch a new era of high-speed, reliable, widespread connectivity throughout Sullivan County, ensuring broadband availability is as common and easily obtained as electricity. Our residents, visitors and businesses will benefit tremendously from this technological leap forward.”

“Today’s award announcement shows the importance of never giving up on a meaningful goal,” said Lorne Green, Sullivan County’s commissioner of Information technology services and the initiator of this project. “I’m very proud to have been a small part of the county team that worked on this grant request. I’m also grateful to the legislative bodies and county management that have supported this effort over the past 10 years. This is an important investment in Sullivan County’s future and a transformative first step toward a goal of 100% coverage, new opportunities and growth for our community in the decades ahead.”

Sullivan County last year signed a memorandum of agreement with Archtop Fiber to jointly develop a plan to extend multigig fiber within the county. The technology being deployed is capable of providing both upload and download speeds up to 10Gbps, and Archtop is investing several hundreds of millions of dollars across the Hudson Valley. The county’s emergency communication towers will also be connected to Archtop’s system, with the goal of offering wireless broadband service to areas that otherwise would be significantly difficult or expensive to reach with fiber.

“We’re honored to have been selected to partner with Sullivan County on this incredible initiative that goes beyond connectivity – it’s about creating real opportunities for economic growth, education and health care in our communities,” said Shawn Beqaj,       chief officer of Archtop Fiber. “Through Governor Hochul’s ConnectALL Initiative, we’re proud to serve as a dedicated local partner, bringing our expertise in fiber-optic construction to serve over 22,000 homes and businesses. This grant is a transformative milestone in bridging the digital divide and we’ll work hand-in-hand with community leaders to move this project forward quickly to deliver high-quality Internet access that’s built to last.”