In February 2015, Governor Baker claimed that he supported former Governor Patrick’s initiative to release $40 million in state money through Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI). However, in February 2016, Governor Charlie Baker told the Massachusetts Broadband Institute to hold off on funding any major rural broadband buildout until the governor's Executive Office of Administration and Finance can conduct “due diligence on the financials.”

This is a roadblock for all rural towns in western Massachusetts that do not have high-speed internet service for their homes and businesses. Many of these towns have been waiting for well over a decade for solutions to their broadband needs because corporate giants like Verizon and Time Warner have purposely left most of the rural towns in Massachusetts either un-served or under-served for decades; residents and businesses have little or no access to real broadband internet services whatsoever.

Despite all of the political and financial hurdles that the broadband committees in these rural towns have faced in their fight for broadband access over the last decade, there are a few towns such as Alford MA and Mount Washington MA that are planning on building out their own fiber-optic networks to their residents. Unfortunately, Governor Baker’s blanket decision has stopped these independent towns in their tracks, despite that they have provided solid plans and are ready to move ahead on their own projects. Without MBI funding, these towns are forced to sit and wait until their individual funding is approved.

All in all, Governor Baker’s blanket decision has effectively put a complete stop to all rural broadband expansion throughout western Massachusetts, therefore it is Governor Baker’s responsibility to release the hold on these funds to the independent towns with sound buildout plans so they will not be hindered in their broadband expansion projects. If certain towns (or groups) need to be audited and scrutinized then by all means do so without penalizing the towns and groups that are not in question! Beacon Hill needs to understand how critical rural broadband expansion is in western Massachusetts; they need to help us step out of the dark ages so that we can catch up with the rest of the civilized world of communications in the 21st century!