DEERFIELD VALLEY- Last December, officials from the Vermont Telecommunications Authority visited the Deerfield Valley to discuss the state’s new plans to provide statewide cell phone and broadband Internet service by 2010. VTA officials say they are much closer today to meeting that goal. However they did not provide any new information about when universal coverage will arrive in the Deerfield Valley.

Last December, former VTA chairman Mary Evslin met with local officials and business community members at the Grand Summit Hotel. Evslin discussed the state’s plan to provide high-speed Internet to unserved areas of the state. Approximately 26,000 locations throughout the state lack high-speed Internet and mobile coverage. This includes many communities in Bennington and Windham counties.

Evslin said the VTA would close the gap by obtaining greater backhaul, or connectivity, to the national network, and build fiber networks to substations throughout the state. Evslin has since resigned as chairman and Christopher Dutton, of Green Mountain Power, is taking on the remaining stages of the project.

VTA executive director Bill Shuttleworth said significant progress has been made. Shuttleworth said customers in areas without high-speed Internet will be receiving the service from major providers such as Comcast, Verizon, or Fairpoint Communications. Shuttleworth did not say which areas are going to be serviced first but is confident the projects will be completed sometime in 2010.

Shuttleworth says the VTA is now in the implementation stage of providing universal coverage. One of the major parts of the implementation stage is establishing contracts with vendors and providers. Shuttleworth said the VTA has partnered with CoverageCo, of Cambridge, MA, as the wholesale mobile service provider, established a roaming agreement with Verizon and AT&T as retail providers, and contracting with Earth Turbines, of Williston, VT, to provide small-scale windmills.

Shuttleworth says setting up cell phone towers is almost complete. The VTA selected small-scale windmills because they provide better access to phone and Internet services, a shorter distance to connect to an electric supply, and easier permitting. Windmills will be equipped with software-design radio systems that will accept several national carriers in Vermont.

The software-design radio systems will accept Global System for Mobile Communications and Code Division Multiple Access, the two competing network technologies. GSM cell phone carriers include AT&T and T-Mobile, while CDMA includes Sprint, Virgin Mobile, and Verizon. With the use of SDR systems, Shuttleworth says all carriers will reach other areas around the state. “Verizon would only work on CDMA telephones whereas AT&T uses GMS. The SDR speaks both languages and when we implement them, everyone can use their phone,” said Shuttleworth.

The remaining piece of the puzzle is financing the project and signing a contract with a national provider. Once that is complete, Shuttleworth says the VTA can begin work on site acquisitions, start the permitting process, and construct cell phone towers as soon as possible. “We’re very hopeful at this point in time. At first, we didn’t have a conceptual design. We’ve since moved from a conceptual design to implementation,” said Shuttleworth. “That’s a huge process. Implementation is going to happen.”

One hundred fifty windmills will be situated on residential windmills and the remaining cell sites are reserved for state lands, church steeples, state police towers, silos, etc. Shuttleworth said they have selected tower sites throughout the state, but they are not releasing specifics until late summer. “We understand the need and we’re working aggressively at getting this done. We hope to provide a coverage map later this summer. Right now, we’re out in the field, we’ve done the designs, and we’re looking at where we can access towers,” said Shuttleworth.