A fledgling high-speed Internet network comprised of 25-towns has been rejected for funding by the Vermont Telecommunications Authority.
The authority approved a $25,000 planning grant for the East Central Vermont Community Fiber Network, but the group’s request for up to $8 million in state revenue bonds to back the project was denied.
The chairwoman of the Vermont Telecommunications Authority board Mary Evslin says the group’s business plan needs more work.
But the chairman of East Central Vermont Community Fiber Network says the group needed the money to convince investors that the state was behind the project. He says the denial contradicts the stated reason for the establishment of the Telecommunications Authority last year, which was to use $40 million in bond allowances to help get high-speed Internet into corners of Vermont that have no service.