A crushing near-miss at the ballot box last year hasn’t stopped the town of Southwick, Massachusetts from chipping away at Comcast’s local monopoly. 

The town is now making progress on a scaled-down pilot project aimed at helping sell locals on the benefits of community-owned-and-operated affordable fiber optics.

After falling just 14 votes shy of the two-thirds majority required to authorize a full $16 million municipal fiber build at Town Meeting (353-204) last year, local officials refused to shelve the project. 

Instead, the Select Board approved a municipal agreement with Westfield Gas & Electric’s Whip City Fiber to construct a targeted pilot network funded entirely by existing money.

The smaller phased deployment aims to prove out subscriber demand, connect vital anchor institutions, and demonstrate that a publicly owned fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network can pay for itself without leaving general taxpayers on the hook.

According to local news outlet The Reminder, this scaled-back pilot project will target three of the original 19 fiberhoods targeted under the original plan to deploy fiber to the entire town of 9,346.

Pilot Cleared for Takeoff

Rather than wait around to convince hesitant voters at another contentious town meeting, Southwick leadership pivoted to what was already sitting in the town’s war chest.