Erie County’s ErieNET broadband initiative has begun “make ready” and underground conduit work in anticipation of Spring 2024, when over 400 miles of fiberoptic cable will be strung to construct the ErieNET Open Access Network. The make-ready process involves checking, securing and readying utility poles for ErieNet fiber to be placed; about 85% of the project will be aerial (on poles) while 15% will be underground. Spools of fiber are being stored at the Department of Public Works’ Highway Barn; each spool is 8 feet high and has 20,000 feet of fiber at a total cost of $1,519,495.00.

“Broadband infrastructure is essential to business, education, healthcare and life in the 21st century and the ErieNET initiative now taking shape will provide 400 miles of such infrastructure across Erie County. This Plan is the template for a sustainable and financially viable open access network that has the capacity to grow and provide service for decades in areas that are currently unserved or underserved,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “The pandemic made plain just how critical quality, high-speed Internet is to our lives, and too many residents have been left behind because of telecommunications companies’ short-sighted business decisions in the past. My administration is changing that, and thanks to funding from the Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan we will be putting a county-spanning 400-mile fiber network in place to better connect and serve county residents and businesses far into the future.”

Poloncarz was joined today by Erie Net Executive Director Melissa Hartman, Chairman of the Board of Directors Thomas Baines, members of the ErieNet Board including Town of Boston Supervisor Jason Keding, and county personnel to review the plan and inspect the spools of fiber optic cable.

The initiative’s estimated construction cost of $36 million is covered primarily by federal American Rescue Plan (“ARP”) funding, with $2.8 million in county funding allocated to support backbone construction of the new network.

ErieNet Executive Director Melissa Hartman said, “ConnectAll, the New York State Broadband Office, will be offering two ARP funding opportunities that ErieNet will be applying for. One opportunity is to assist with low-income multi-dwelling housing units, while the other would expand our municipal infrastructure and potentially assist cities, towns, and villages across Erie County with expansions of fiber in their municipality, while covering their capital costs. Any expansion of the network will lead to greater opportunity for Internet Service Providers to use the network to offer last mile connections to residential and business customers with the expectation to lower internet cost for all.”

Erie County established the ErieNET LDC to address ownership and governance issues associated with the broadband initiative, and the network’s fiber optic backbone will be available or open to any entity within the County that is willing to contract with ErieNET LDC. ErieNet has met with almost every municipality in Erie County to listen to their needs and explain the benefits of an open access dark fiber network.

The ErieNet LDC was created in April 2022 with funding from Erie County and $34 million of American Rescue Plan support. The 9-member Board of Directors is led by Thomas Baines, Deputy Commssioner of the Erie County Department of Environment and Planning. In May 2023 ErieNet hired an Executive Director, former Eden Town Supervisor Melissa Hartman. ErieNet has contracted with ECC Technologies to handle sales, marketing and operations through the construction of the network; ECC Technologies also performed the ErieNet feasibility study and network design. Construction is expected to be completed by late 2025 but the system is anticipated to be partially operational by the end of 2024.

# # #