It would leverage funds derived from federal disbursements to the towns and Knox County via the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to purchase the existing physical network infrastructure, upgrade it to fiber-optic cable, finance building and maintenance costs, and contract with a private-sector system operator. ![]() The proposed MIDC would be a nonprofit municipal utility owned by participating towns to provide broadband internet service to residents and businesses. This month, voters in a handful of Knox County towns will vote on a town meeting article to “authorize the Select Board to enter into an Interlocal Agreement with other municipalities for the purpose of creating the Midcoast Internet Development Corporation (MIDC).” Effectively, the voters of Rockport, Camden, and Thomaston have the opportunity to weigh in on the prospect of a government-owned network (GON) in their community. ![]() Many advocates in Maine and around the nation have highlighted the need for more stable and faster internet speeds, especially in the shadow of the remote-learning, work-from-home, socially-distant economy that many Americans have been thrust into as a result of the last 15 months of pandemic-inspired emergency rule.
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