Residents and businesses that became eligible for high-speed internet from a new fiber line running through parts of Orono and Old Town are signing up for the faster service, according to the company running the new network. That’s a signal of early success for a project that was a decade in the making.
OTO Fiber Corp. — a joint venture between Old Town, Orono and the University of Maine — started work to improve access to ultra-high-speed broadband for area residents and businesses 10 years ago.
OTO Fiber signed a contract last June with telecommunications provider OTELCO to provide the internet service, and that connection went live in October.
This first phase of the internet service extends only six miles through Old Town and Orono, passing about 575 addresses that are eligible for service, said Trevor Jones, senior vice president of marketing for OTELCO.
But there’s more to come.
OTELCO has agreed to build approximately 49 miles more of a network that will serve an additional 3,550 locations in the two communities this summer. The company is on track to begin offering service to more customers outside of the initial build by the end of this year, Jones said.
“I think things are going very well,” Jones said. “We have a project underway to build some additional coverage in Old Town and Orono.”
In this initial phase, the Orono part of the network begins on Kelley Road, then splits off onto Old Kelley Avenue and heads north on Route 2, where it ends on Bennoch Road.
The Old Town portion of the network picks up on Stillwater Avenue near Mahan’s Redemption Center, breaks off onto Center Street, loops around the post office, and reconnects with Stillwater near Tim’s Little Big Store. It then covers part of downtown Main Street.
Because the market in Orono and Old Town is so small, Jones said it is difficult to tell precisely how many customers have signed up so far.
But five percent of all eligible customers in areas where OTELCO opened up service in the fall of 2021 — which includes other areas such as Gray in addition to Old Town and Orono — have signed up for service, Jones said.
“To us that is on track,” he said. “We’re pleased with that.”
The internet offered by OTO Fiber’s lines is different from the service offered by other providers in the area because fiber internet is symmetrical, meaning the speeds for downloading and uploading content are equal, Jones said.
So far, OTELCO is offering three speeds to customers in Old Town and Orono: 150 and 500 megabits per second, and 1 gigabit.
“We’ve had customers say that they’re consistently getting what they pay for, which is exciting for them,” Jones said.
OTO Fiber started in 2012 when the group attempted to set up a Gigabit Main Street network that was part of a fiber-optic service known as Gig. U — a nationwide program that aimed to bring high-speed internet to research universities and surrounding communities.
At the time, Biddeford-based internet and phone company GWI offered to build and provide service to the network, but the plan didn’t pan out.
In 2015, OTO Fiber was dealt another blow after Time Warner challenged a $125,000 grant it received through the ConnectME Authority to help fund the project.
The project did receive a $250,000 Northern Border Regional Commission grant in 2015, which the two communities combined with their own $225,000 investment when the project started.
The group issued a request for proposals last December for an internet service provider, and it had selected a finalist by early February to start contract negotiations.
As part of the final contract, OTELCO will pay for and own the drops — the connections to individual businesses and homes that receive service.