Construction on a $42 million, privately funded infrastructure project meant to bring fiber optic internet access to all homes and businesses in East Hartford is underway, public officials announced Tuesday morning.
The East Hartford FiberCity project will provide the town’s 19,046 households, 4,649 businesses and institutions with high-speed, affordable internet service, they said.
Fiber optic infrastructure developer SiFi Networks is installing the state’s first open access network, meaning its cables will be shared by multiple internet service providers to offer the best speeds at competitive prices. Speeds of up to 1,000 megabytes per second will be offered initially, increasing to 10 gigabytes per second over time.
The concept began several years ago when East Hartford leaders issued an RFP to create a town-wide network, with the caveat that it could not afford to pay for it.
SiFi Networks, with its construction partner Lat Long Infrastructure, plans to phase in the fiber optic network by neighborhood, with town-wide completion in 2024.
“Introducing a 100% in-the-ground fiber network to East Hartford will be a game changer for economic development,” Mayor Michael P. Walsh said. “It will give us the fastest Internet in the nation and bridge the digital divide, providing equitable access to all of East Hartford.”
The program is intended to help bridge the digital divide, including students who began to rely more heavily on broadband internet during remote learning amid the COVID pandemic.
Doug Casey, executive director of the Connecticut Commission for Educational Technology, said the initiative will “help guarantee that students have an equal opportunity to learn outside of school, that access to high-speed Internet becomes a gateway to the learning tools and opportunities that break down barriers of opportunity.”
Flume Internet will be the first internet service provider on the network. The network will also enable East Hartford to offer Smart City services, such as traffic monitoring, greater public safety connection, public Wi-Fi and water leak detection.
For more information, visit www.easthartfordfibercity.com.
