What's Up With Municipal Broadband In Worcester? Task Force Reports Options

WORCESTER, MA — A task force in Worcester has been studying the possibility of setting up a city-owned broadband internet network for two years, and for the first time this week revealed some of its findings.

The broadband task force reported to a city council committee Monday that it would cost an estimated $250 million for the city to build its own network, according to Worcester Chief Information Officer Michael Hamel. But there may be another option: allowing a private vendor to build a network in Worcester, providing competition for the city's only full-service cable and internet provider, Spectrum.

Hamel also reported that state and federal assistance for municipalities that want to build a broadband network are almost nonexistent. Federal grants target mostly rural areas that lack internet access, he said. Hamel also noted that since the task force's founding, Verizon has started to offer Fios internet and voice service in Worcester, and T-Mobile is beginning 5G service.

Former city manager Ed Augustus Jr. set up the broadband task force in 2021, but the group had not issued any reports or public statements until Monday's Urban Technologies, Innovation and Environment Committee meeting. City Manager Eric Batista gave a hint of the city's position on setting up municipal broadband during an interview on the Talk of the Commonwealth, calling it "very impossible," according to This Week In Worcester.

Committee chair District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj said the city should still publish a report on the feasibility of municipal broadband.

"I think what the community has been asking for since this idea was seeded by the former city manager is to have a comprehensive plan understanding where all these options fit together, how does equity fit into this discussion," she said.

Paul Matthews, a broadband task force member and the Worcester Regional Research Bureau CEO, said one alternative is for the city to promote the federal Affordable Connectivity Program, which pays up to $30 per month to low-income households for internet. The program is under-used in Worcester, he said.

Some municipalities in Massachusetts already offer public internet, including Shrewsbury. Communities that operate their own electrical utilities have an advantage, Hamel said, because they have infrastructure in place like billing. Worcester relies on National Grid for its electricity service. Salem is one example of a city that has used a private vendor to build municipal broadband, Hamel said.

Worcester School Committee member Tracy Novick spoke at the meeting to highlight how big an issue internet access is for students. According to the latest data available to the school district, about 8,500 Worcester students lacked access to internet at home.

Novick said three grants that provide funding for take-home internet hotspots have or will soon go away. The district will use its federal pandemic stimulus funds — called ESSER, or the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund — to continue the hotspot program, but those funds will go away in 2024.

Internet access is not a luxury for students, it's a necessity for school, she said.

"I do want to make sure the council understands this is really an urgent need," Novick said. "While we've been kind of filling the holes as best we can, there is a need for this to be a utility rather than anything else."

Haxhiaj will send two orders to the city council following Monday's meeting: one seeking a full municipal broadband feasibility study, and for Worcester to apply for a grant through the Municipal Digital Equity Planning Program to evaluate digital inequity in the city.