Ashfield — Members of Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration were at a celebration of the state’s Last Mile and digital equality programs at the Ashfield Town Hall on Thursday, December 1.
The program itself goes back to 2016 when the state appropriated funds for the program back in 2016 to create residential broadband access projects that lacked broadband service. Since the program was started, 53 towns were identified as “Last Mile” towns, including 44 underserved Western and Central towns in the state that lacked any residential broadband service and an additional nine towns that were partially served by Internet cable technology.
According to Gov. Baker, $57 million in state grants was used for the project, which involved installing 40,000 telephone poles and 2,000 miles of fiber optic cable.
“When I think about the pandemic, I think about [western Massachusetts] because so many people had [high-speed Internet] while so many people didn’t,” Gov. Baker said at the event. “If you had it, it made a difference in the disruption, anxiety, and agony that came with the pandemic. You had a different experience if you didn’t have one. I’m glad we got a head start on it, because it made a big difference during those two years [during the pandemic]. This is like running water and electricity, and I do hope that it serves as a benchmark for western Massachusetts going forward with respect to how you live and how you operate in communities.”
“The divide is so real when it comes to basic infrastructure in the state,” Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said. “I felt that this part of the Commonwealth is equal to every other part. Yet, the divide is so real when it comes to basic infrastructure. In eastern and central Massachusetts, we just take for granted [Internet] connectivity, and 53 communities did not have it. That to us does not represent what the Commonwealth is all about. The devices we use for technology, education, digital literacy, are all the things that are going to be needed to help us enhance the basic infrastructure that we have in western Massachusetts and our Commonwealth because we still have lots of gaps.”
Gov. Baker said that the program has connected an estimated 26,000 residents and users to high-speed Internet.
