PORTLAND, Maine — Broadband provider RedZone Wireless received the Finance Authority of Maine’s help in securing a $4 million bank loan to help the company with startup costs, according to the authority.
The company, which began a move from Rockland to Camden in January, has said it plans to reach more than 90 percent of the state’s population with 4G LTE wireless broadband service, getting to 25 percent within a year.
“This approval will allow us to demonstrate the potential of our wireless technology, the strength of our business model, and our alignment with the broadband and economic development goals of the state of Maine,” said Jim McKenna, RedZone’s president and CEO.
The company in late January secured FCC approval to operate on a special wireless spectrum reserved for educational institutions. It has a 30-year agreement with the University of Maine System to help expand high-speed wireless Internet service at its campuses around the state.
The company’s expansion plans come as the state in January raised its broadband speed standards. The ConnectME Authority awards up to about $1 million in grants each year to companies expanding broadband mostly in areas without access.
With the higher standard in place, broadband projects meeting those speeds are more likely to get money from the state agency. RedZone has said its network will be able to meet the new standard of at least 10 megabit-per-second speeds for both downloads and uploads.
The 15-member board of directors for FAME voted 9-0, with six members absent, to insure 90 percent of the $4 million loan from Camden National Bank. That means the state would use taxpayer funds to repay most of the loan, if RedZone were to default.
The company’s move to Camden’s former Knox Woolen Mill also allowed it to qualify for Pine Tree Development Zone incentives through the Department of Economic and Community Development. That qualification will allow the company to get back 80 percent of the payroll taxes that would be paid on income for new employees and qualify for other tax reductions.
The company said in its application for those benefits that it plans to hire about 19 new employees.
Voters decided to give that loan insurance program an additional $4 million in November. Before the vote, that program had $28.4 million. Chris Roney, FAME’s attorney, said at the time the new borrowing would allow it to insure another $20 million in bank loans.
Bill Norbert, spokesman for FAME, said the bond money has not been released but is expected to come to the agency through state bonds that would be sold in June.
FAME said it found the RedZone loan would help create or retain 18 jobs in the near future.