MASSACHUSETTS HAS INVESTED hundreds of millions of dollars over the last 15 years to bring broadband to all corners of the Bay State. The result of that investment? Hundreds more communities can connect to high-speed internet service, but the results are uneven because archaic and inequitable rules are preventing customers from accessing competitive broadband.

Access to fiber optic networks is a basic requirement for businesses looking to relocate or expand their operations in Massachusetts. Schools, hospitals, and government offices also find that fiber optic connections markedly improve learning and efficiency. Especially during COVID-19, we saw the importance of access to reliable, high-speed internet. Increasingly, high-speed internet is a vital tool for economic development. Most consumers and businesses understand that this service is far too important to be left in the hands of a monopoly.

Parts of central and western Massachusetts are particularly underserved. According to data from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, the Commonwealth’s five westernmost counties have the least broadband choice and competition in the entire state. For instance, 81 percent of Berkshire residents have only one provider (Charter), 64 percent of Hampden County residents have access only to Comcast, 70 percent of Hampshire County has access to only one provider, and 66 percent of Franklin County has only one provider. The Commonwealth’s second and third largest cities don’t fare very well either. In Worcester, 72 percent of the population has access to only one provider.  And the news is worse in Springfield, where 76 percent of residents and businesses have only one choice in broadband.

The result is that central and western Massachusetts continue to be left behind in internet access, speed, and capacity, further deepening the digital divide between Boston and the rest of the state. The solution for this is simple and, in most cases, won’t cost taxpayers a dime.

Fiber optic network providers are ready to invest in state-of-the-art, fiber optic networks to homes and businesses throughout central and western Massachusetts but are currently being held back by outdated rules that allow utility pole owners (the electric and telephone companies) to deny providers timely and reasonable access to utility poles. Unlike other New England states, Massachusetts lacks a statute that sets a clear mandate for access to utility poles for fiber optic network construction.

For example, my company, GoNetspeed, submitted pole access applications to utility pole owner Verizon in September 2021 to build fiber optic infrastructure in Easthampton. As of this writing – more than a year and a half later – we are still waiting for Verizon to begin make-ready work and grant us access. In the meantime, residents and businesses in Easthampton are trapped by a single provider using outdated technology and providing service at whatever rates it wants.

That’s just one example of fiber optic network builders languishing while utility pole owners delay and try to destroy the opportunity for central and western Massachusetts communities to get fiber optic internet access connected to their homes and business now.

Bills introduced in the Massachusetts Senate and House would provide a powerful boost to the development and construction of fiber optic networks without the use of tax dollars. Both the Senate bill (SD.651), filed by Senator Adam Gomez, and the House bill (HD.1285), filed by Representative Angelo Puppulo, would adopt a standard known as one-touch-make-ready. With this standard, the fiber optic network builder performs the pre-construction utility pole survey with a contractor approved by the pole owners and submits the application with engineering complete.  Further, the network builder performs all make-ready work with an approved contractor, eliminating the need for multiple visits to the poles. The efficiency of the system dramatically reduces the timeframe of the application process from years to months.

One-touch-make-ready is a well-established process and is in use in the majority of US states, including every New England state except for Massachusetts.  For example, the New Hampshire legislature passed legislation, effective October 2021, adopting one-touch-make-ready for pole applications in that state.  Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island also have adopted it.  Massachusetts lags behind. This creates a competitive disadvantage for attracting crucial investment and network construction.  Conversely, the result in other New England states has been a dramatic increase in the amount of fiber optic network construction.

This legislation is an important step in promoting digital equity and bridging the digital divide. By encouraging the efficient construction of fiber optic networks, Massachusetts lawmakers will be bringing competition to internet providers that gives consumers and businesses choice in services and choice in prices.

Utility pole owners agree. Verizon, owner of numerous poles through central and western Massachusetts, in a blog post on their corporate website, talked about the importance and benefits of one-touch-make-ready. “We’re urging the FCC to make it quicker and easier to deploy broadband by introducing more efficiency to this often slow and painful process,” the company saidin the blog post. “We’re encouraged that the FCC asked about one-touch-make-ready. It’s just the type of common-sense solution that can put the country’s broadband deployment in pole position.”

In Massachusetts, Verizon submitted comments to the Department of Public Utilities and the Department of Telecommunications and Cable in September 2019 supporting the development of  one-touch-make-ready rules, including rules governing the timeline for access to utility poles.

For pole owners, this legislation means they will have the assurance that the work on their poles will be performed by approved contractors consistent with safety and reliability standards. Pole owners will continue to have oversight of their poles, and their costs will be reduced as they would no longer need to devote internal resources for make-ready work.

But won’t 5G wireless technology provide high speed internet access in areas with only one or no providers? Unfortunately, the marketing hype of 5G has exceeded its actual performance. According to DigitalTrends.com, real world 5G download speeds range from 49 megabits per second and 56 megabits per second for AT&T and Verizon to 150 megabits per second for T-Mobile. However, those speeds are far below what fiber optic delivers. And those 5G speeds vary substantially based on how many people are connected to a cell tower and a user’s distance from the tower. And it all requires a 5G capable device.  Finally, even 5G requires fiber optic cables to carry the signal from the 5G antennae to the internet.  This legislation will therefore assist the expansion of 5G.

One-touch-make-ready is good, common-sense legislation that will help bring Massachusetts to the future.

David Allen is senior vice president of network operations & general manager of Massachusetts for GoNetspeed.com, a builder and operator of fiber optic networks to homes and businesses in the Northeast.