The following is an update from Mansfield Community Fiber Inc. regarding the status of the Fletcher Broadband Project. For specific questions, you may reach out to MCF directly at 1-802-899-2044 or [email protected]
The Fletcher Completion Project requires extending our current network over 34 miles. In turn, that requires applications for nearly 900 utility poles, which have to be surveyed to determine what, if any, work needs to be done to make room for our attachments. In addition, there are sections where there are gaps in the pole run and where we have to build/lay our fiber underground. At this date we are doing some of that underground preparatory work and we are in the process of surveying the poles with the pole-owning utilities. Some of the surveys have been completed and we have paid for the “make ready” work that needs to be done before an attachment license can be issued. Once we pay, the utilities have 4 months in which to get the work done. This is established by state regulation. As a result, we do not expect to have all the needed pole licenses before the end of the third quarter of this year. We can only start actual construction once we have the licenses. The construction of the fiber pass usually takes a couple of months but since this will likely occur during winter, weather can interrupt and delay construction. Our best guesstimate is that we’ll be ready to start connecting customers on the new network at the beginning of Q2 2023.