Whip City Fiber schedules information for residents on Wednesday to learn about town-owned gigabit internet service
SOUTHWICK — Whip City Fiber is making its final pitch to the town's residents tonight, starting at 6:30 p.m., to support an article on the warrant for the upcoming Town Meeting that will ask voters to support a borrowing authorization to build out a town-owned fiber optic network.
'This meeting presents an important opportunity for Southwick residents to understand how a town-owned fiber network could improve connectivity throughout their community,' said Tom Flaherty, WG&E and Whip City Fiber general manager. 'We encourage all interested residents to attend and bring their questions.'
This session aims to educate Southwick community members on how Whip City Fiber can support Southwick with premium high-speed internet service, according to a press release about the meeting.
At Town Meeting next Tuesday, May 20, residents will be asked to vote up or down on Article 9, which, if approved, would give the green light for the town to borrow up to $16 million over five years to build out the fiber-optic networks.
The town has been taking steps to have the authorization to build over the last several years with two affirmative votes by residents to create a Municipal Light Plant, which was required by the state to build the network.
Once the MLP was approved, the Select Board established a High Speed Internet Committee to work out the cost of the project.
When the committee first began looking at the dollar amount for the network, they considered going to Town Meeting over five consecutive years to request a borrowing authorization of about $5 million.
However, given the town's experience with the funding Phase II of the sewer project, in which Town Meeting voted down a borrowing authorization after approving $600,000 for the systems engineering and design, the committee decided to seek the entire amount to build the network.
The most vocal supporter of the network's construction was Select Board member Douglas Moglin, who chaired the committee.
Since discussions began about building it, Moglin has stressed if the participation rate of 50% — those who sign up for the service — is reached, the receipts will generate enough income to pay off the borrowing.
To make that happen, the business model has subscribers paying $89 per month for the service. If the network reaches a 50% take, or participation, rate — which would be 1,843 connections — annual revenues would be about $1.968 million.
That would cover the anticipated annual expenses of $1.934 million and the network would operate at a surplus of about $34,000 annually.
The full cost of the network is estimated at $18 million, but the town has already allocated $900,000 from American Rescue Plan Act funds, received $250,000 from a state grant, and had a $3 million authorization approved at Town Meeting in 2023.
Whip City Fiber cable already touches Southwick in several areas, including on Tannery Road and Sunnyside Drive, and there is an installed but dormant fiber-optic line that runs along the length of the Southwick Rail Trail.
Whip City representatives said those areas where the cable touches homes in Southwick will be able to sign up for the internet service almost immediately if the article passes.
The town and Whip City Fiber held an informational meeting in March which over 130 residents attended. After representatives of subsidiary of WG&E finished their presentation, nearly every person in the Town Hall auditorium raised their hands when asked if they would support the borrowing authorization.
For those unavailable to attend the meeting it will be available online.
To join the Zoom meeting log into https://southwickma.zoom.us/j/82678586933?pwd=BKuzcMeTaK1TY7IlGQRGwaJ5wUSC72.1
The meeting ID is 826 7858 6933, the passcode is 671280,
To find your local number visit https://southwickma.zoom.us/u/kcf0rcxAw7
Read the original article on MassLive.
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