WGXC-90.7 FM

GTel may opt out of broadband plan

Mar 04, 2017 12:02 am

Roger Hannigan Gilson is reporting in The Daily Mail one of the newly named phase 2 Broadband for All recipients has suggested it may opt out of the plan. The Germantown-based internet provider GTel Teleconnections was awarded $5.3 million in state funding Tue., Feb. 28, to expand its network, but General Manager Jason Shelton said the company was not happy "with the patchwork area they were assigned." GTel requested $7.6 million in its application and planned to use the money to provide service to all of Germantown, Clermont, Livingston, Taghkanic and Gallatin, Shelton said. Instead, GTel received less funding than it requested, and both Frontier Communications and FairPoint Communications received grants to expand broadband service in GTel's area. GTel currently serves 76 square miles of territory in and around Germantown, and may not find it economically feasible to run lines the way the state plan reads, Shelton said. The company may have to run lines through another service provider's territory, but be unable to hook up properties on the other service provider's land. "So now we’re going to have to go back to the engineering table and see how cost-effective it is to do," Shelton said. When asked if GTel would reject the state’s plan, Shelton said, "At this point, I don’t really have an answer one way or another because I don’t know how the engineering plans will [play out]." The company would most likely be able to come back with a decision in a couple of weeks, he said. Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Wave Farm / WGXC Acra Contact Info
info@wavefarm.org
info@wgxc.org
Mailing: PO Box 13 Acra, NY 12405
Main Office / Acra Studio
(518) 622-2598
WGXC Office
(518) 697-7400
WGXC Hudson Studio
(518) 828-0290
WGXC Feedback
(518) 212-7509 feedback@wgxc.org
Wave Farm / WGXC Acra Studio: 5662 Route 23 Acra, NY 12405
WGXC Hudson Studio: 369 Warren St. Hudson, NY 12534