FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — A broadband internet expansion project on the south end of town is taking a little longer than expected, but still moving ahead.
Houlton-based Pioneer Broadband is in the midst of a roughly $250,000 project that began last fall to bring high speed broadband internet to sections of the Maple Grove, Presque Isle and Houlton roads in Fort Fairfield.
The project is taking longer than expected due to the need to obtain permission to attach the broadband fiber to poles owned by other utilities and also because of the demand for fiber-optic cables nationwide, Fort Fairfield economic director Tim Goff told the town council at a Feb. 15 meeting.
“That fiber is now here and will be strung and attached to poles along the project corridor in the next few weeks,” Goff said in an email.
The Fort Fairfield Town Council also approved a permit for Pioneer Broadband to set a wireless internet pole in the town’s right of way on Maple Grove Road about 190 feet from Route U.S. 1A. That pole will hold an electronics cabinet storing equipment necessary to operate the fiber to the home service, Goff said.
“After that, houses will be wired for service, the system will be tested and then high-speed internet will become available to the 95 homes and businesses in this corridor,” he said.
Funded with $200,000 by the state’s ConnectME Authority, the Fort Fairfield project is among five Pioneer Broadband expansions underway in Aroostook County communities being supported with ConnectME funding, including in Chapman, Mapleton and Presque Isle.
While the project is taking a little longer than expected, Goff said that it will be completed “sooner rather than later,” although did not give an estimated date.
“There are so many pieces that have to fall into place to build a fiber network that are out of the hands of the company or the town,” he added.
