Broadband now available for Sandwich residents

Internet speeds up to 2 gigabits per second are now available to New Hampshire Electric Cooperative members in Sandwich as high-speed access expands in rural New Hampshire, the co-op announced Friday.

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sandwich Broadband Advisory Committee and town officials began lobbying providers to reach unserved and underserved residents.

“When a small group of frustrated Sandwich residents nudged NHEC toward getting into broadband, we had no notion that a pandemic would magnify the need. Or that rural broadband would become a bipartisan issue in Congress and our state,” said Richard Knox, a member of the Sandwich Broadband Advisory Committee and Chair of New Hampshire Broadband Advocates, in a statement.

When work began in early 2019, advocates working to secure a fiber-optic network in a small, rural community of over 90 square miles was nearly impossible, said Joanne Haight, chair of the Sandwich Select Board.

“Thanks to the pioneering spirit of NHEC, NH Broadband and a resident-driven initiative, the town of Sandwich has access to a fast, affordable fiber-optic network,” she said in a news release.

NH Broadband, NHEC’s internet subsidiary, serves members in six towns, and is expanding its fiber-optic networks to serve members in more than 30 towns in Grafton County, which has some of the highest concentrations of New Hampshire residents who lack access to high-speed internet.

NHEC and its project partner, Conexon, continue to pursue federal and state grant funds to support the construction of fiber-optic networks in areas that lack high-speed options, the coop said.

Construction of the network in Sandwich, which required the installation of 107 miles of fiber-optic lines, was supported in part by a $1.6 million grant secured by Rep. Chris Pappas.

“We’re proud to have worked with our members in Sandwich to achieve this important milestone,” said Alyssa Clemsen Roberts, president and CEO of NHEC and CEO of NH Broadband.

“Broadband internet is no longer a luxury, it’s an essential service that NHEC is committed to providing to all our members who need it,” she said in statement. “We see the difference that reliable, high-speed internet makes in the life of a small community, and we can’t wait to see it repeated across the state as we reach more members.”