Vt. gov signs telecommunications bill

ELMORE, Vt. (AP) - There was no reliable cell-phone signal along the shore of Lake Elmore. But for a little while Tuesday, there was something very few people around here have -- a high-speed Internet connection.

Power Shift Online, of Stowe, set up a mobile antenna to deliver a wireless signal to laptop computers at the day-use area of Elmore State Park as part of Gov. Jim Douglas' celebration of a telecommunications initiative.

But like the poor mobile telephone service and the phantom broadband signal, the bill Douglas intended to sign was imaginary. So Douglas -- who has yet to get the official paper version -- signed an electronic version on a handheld tablet computer.

'I guess I need to give you a disclaimer: I don't have the bill to sign,' Douglas said. 'The bill hasn't come over from the legislative branch. It's virtual. It's an e-signing. It certainly will be law very soon, when the proofreading is done.'

The goal of the legislation is to make Vermont the first 'E-state,' with high-speed, modern telephone and computer access in every corner of the state, from border to border.

The administration believes that 90 percent of Vermont will have such access by the end of the year and the new Vermont Telecommunications Authority created in the bill is designed to ensure the rest of the state is served, too.

'It's that last 10 percent that's really tough,' Douglas said. 'It's that 10 percent that's in the vales and valleys and nooks and crannies that are hard to get.'

The new authority will have the power to sell $40 million in bonds. The proceeds will be used to build some of the towers, cables or other facilities that would then be leased to telecommunications companies that would install the technology itself.

Other states are trying to expand broadband access, too, including Rhode Island.

Douglas concedes Rhode Island might beat Vermont to the punch, but he noted with a laugh Tuesday that it's flat and much smaller geographically than Vermont.

At least nine state legislatures have considered bills this year that would encourage expanding broadband, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Only Vermont and Rhode Island have set the goal of total coverage, said Bob Boerner, an analyst with the NCSL.

It will take a while, though. The members of the authority must be appointed by the governor and legislative leadership. Then it will need an executive director and office space, said Warren Kitzmiller, chairman of the House Commerce Committee, which drafted the bill.

'Now, the work starts,' he said. 'It's going to be very challenging to get all of this done by 2010.'

Kitzmiller hopes construction will start by year's end.

In the meantime, there are several other efforts to get the technology to some of the state's more rural areas. At the ceremony, Douglas presented a $50,000 grant from an already-existing fund to help the town of Wolcott begin to expand broadband service.

'We'll just do what we can with this,' Town Clerk Linda Martin said, gesturing to the oversize check presented by the governor.

Working with a private contractor, towers will be erected and residents will be able to buy service through wireless technology.

Even with that, though, it won't be quite enough. Such signals can't penetrate all the hills and valleys of a town like Wolcott. 'It's not going to bring it to everywhere in Wolcott,' said Martin, also a Democratic state representative.

'It gives you something to start with,' added Sen. Susan Bartlett, D-Lamoille.

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