Northeast Kingdom one step closer to having high speed broadband

A group tasked with rolling out high speed broadband for Vermont's Northeast Kingdom officially launched this week.

On Town Meeting Day, 27 towns in the kingdom entered into a Communication Union District.

It's a group where towns share the responsibility of building, operating and maintaining infrastructure for high speed broadband.

This wee, the CUD met for the first time, elected leadership, and started working on their business model.

Organizers say broadband has always been an issue in the kingdom, but with more people working and learning from home these days, it's a major priority.

"More than ever we need to figure out a solution for a pandemic or any other scenario that may come up where we have to rely on internet to keep our businesses and our lives moving forward," says Evan Carlson, NEK Communication Union District board chair.

Carlson says normally it would have taken about a decade to bring high speed broadband to the kingdom, but some federal funding from the pandemic could help accelerate the timeline.