SOUTH ROYALTON — ECFiber, the municipality-owned broadband provider comprising 31 member towns in east central Vermont, said it has raised a total of $11.8 million in new financing to advance construction of fiber-optic lines.
The financing includes successful placement of $9 million in municipal revenue bonds plus a $2.8 million grant from the Vermont Community Broadband Board, ECFiber said, bringing its total bond commitments to $63.3 million.
Proceeds from the bonds will go toward building broadband infrastructure in the towns of Norwich and Hartford’s villages of Wilder, White River Junction and Quechee while the VCBB funding will be spent on design work for eight towns that recently joined the consortium: Topsham, Newbury, Washington, Corinth, Bradford, West Fairlee, Fairlee and Windsor in addition to “bordering areas” where the utility poles carry telecom services from member towns.
ECFiber, which currently serves 6,700 customers across 23 towns, estimates its broadband is 70% completed.