VTel receives PSB approval for cable TV service

The Vermont Public Service Board has approved a Certificate of Public Good to VTel for cable television service, allowing the company to offer video programming within its existing service area in 14 local exchange areas in Southern Vermont.

http://vtdigger.org/2011/09/21/vermont-public-service-board-approves-certificate-of-public-good-for-cable-tv-service/

Vermont Public Service Board approves certificate of public good for cable TV service

VTdigger - Posted By Press Release On September 21, 2011 @ 2:27 pm

For Immediate Release: September 21, 2011

Media Contact:
Sharon Combes-Farr
Director of Marketing
Vermont Telephone Company, Inc.
(802) 885-7744
sharoncf@vermontel.com

VTel Receives Certificate of Public Good for Cable Television Service
Vermont Public Service Board Endorses VTel CPG Petition

Springfield, Vt. (September 21, 2011) – Vermont Telephone Company, Inc. (VTel) today announced that the Vermont Public Service Board (PSB) has approved a Certificate of Public Good (CPG) for cable television service, allowing the company to offer video programming within its existing service area in 14 local exchange areas in Southern Vermont.

CPG approval from the PSB, which was issued yesterday, was the final step the company needed to fulfill the funding requirements established by the USDA Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for VTel’s “Wireless Open World” (WOW) initiative.

VTel can now extend fiber to every home and business in its service area and begin rolling out state-of-the-art 4G/LTE high speed, wireless broadband services in Vermont.

“This CPG was the final piece we needed to move into the implementation phase for our network build-out in Vermont,” said Justin Robinson, president of VTel. “We can now extend cable television services to underserved Vermonters who currently do not have access, and also increase local competition in areas that do.”

Construction on VTel’s fiber-to-the-home project will begin in North Springfield, with Wallingford and Springfield soon to follow. At the end of the project, all of VTel’s copper telephone network will be transitioned to the latest fiber optic technology.

“There’s still a lot of work yet to be done, but this is a move towards providing more Vermonters with the communications services they need in modern society,” Robinson said. “The PSB moved quickly to approve this CPG and this moves us from planning to implementation of the WOW project.”

“They will offer an alternative for people in their service areas for people that already have cable service and it will offer a good many people the opportunity for cable for the first time,” said Jim Porter, director of the Telecommunications Division for Vermont’s Department of Public Service.

Read more information about VTel’s cable television CPG filing here:

http://www.vermontel.com/images/stories/pdf/VTel_TV_CPG_Petition.pdf [1]

http://www.vermontel.com/images/stories/pdf/VTel-DPS_MOU.pdf [2]

About VTel

VTel is a family-owned telephone company that began serving rural Vermont in 1890. It operates a four-state optical fiber network from Vermont with connections to New York City, Boston, and Montreal, with speeds of 10 Gig to 100 Gig, serving some of the most intensive data users in the northeast.

One of the largest owners of FCC wireless licenses in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Upstate New York, the company has also invested in several wireless technology start-ups.

In 2010, VTel received American Reinvestment and Recovery Act awards of $129 million, in grants and loans, to help build America’s first GigE-to-Every-Home network, to extend 4G/LTE wireless broadband to every unserved Vermonter, and to extend its fiber to 200 community anchors in three states.

VTel is committed to making a meaningful contribution to the prosperity of Vermont communities and the protection of its working landscape. To that end, VTel actively supports Vermont community groups, drives hybrid vehicles, utilizes clean energy including solar, hydro and wind power, and is committed to improving quality of life in Vermont.

We are Vermonters proudly serving Vermonters.

For more information, visit www.vermontel.com.