Those of you who live on the Cape will know how much this is needed. Too many people still don’t have access to broadband service down there, and businesses are held back by the lack of this infrastructure. And the Cape, open to storms throughout its history, also needs this kind of robust telecommunications system to allow first responders and others coordinate before, during, and after storms.
The non-profit OpenCape corporation – under the leadership of Cape Cod Community College’s Dan Gallagher – has spent the last three years gathering support for this, talking to stakeholders throughout the region and the economy, and building up a really innovative structure. There are a lot of public-private partnerships out there, but this one is really a model. They have built a great structure that takes advantage of the community benefits of a public focus, while also utilizing the best of the resources and expertise of the private sector.
To make sure that everyone benefits from this resource, OpenCape controls the allotment of fiber in such a way that it will always retain ownership, holds a reserve, and restricts control to ensure that no single provider may monopolize the resource. And to maximize what the private sector can provide, they’ve set up a profit-sharing model that allows them to partner with private companies in a way that benefits all parties.
There are many other areas of the state that can benefit from this kind of investment in its telecommunication infrastructure, and I’m going to keep fighting to make sure that happens. Next big victory we’re trying to secure in this area is for Western Massachusetts.
