Our phone rang off the hook last week with questions from towns, and each conversation was the same. “We have been asked for a letter of support from Comcast and Verizon”, what should we do? For each person, we simply made sure they asked these providers the same questions I would be expected to be asked if OpenCape had made such a request for a letter of support.
To begin, let me clear up some facts and details.
The maximum amount available to any provider from the MBI Gap Networks Grant Program is $20M. Grant funding requires a 20% match; $20M would fund connectivity to approximately 10,000 homes.
The simple questions we asked were:
Does this letter of support confirm you will be building in our town?
If so, how many homes will you pass?
On what streets?
What type of service will it be?
To date, we have not seen any example of the incumbent providers providing that level of detail or 100% confirmation of such builds. During a regional call with the incumbents and the Cape Cod Tech Council, they seemed to go above and beyond to not provide specifics.
To be direct, yes OpenCape applied for a GAP Grant for a Cape town and if awarded we will be further expanding our 1Gig, 5Gig, 10Gig service in that town. You can count on that!
– Steve Johnston, CEO & Executive Director, OpenCape