During the July 2000 Regional License Transfer Hearings, AT&T Broadband (ATTb) confirmed its commitment to an early 2001 rollout of digital cable and high-speed Internet services in Westford after completing system rebuilds already started by their predecessor, Cablevision, here and in surrounding Towns.
Shortly after taking custody of our Franchise in January 2001, ATTb instead decided to suspend ongoing rebuild activity here and delay these broadband services at least until 2003 due to lack of capital. This was a serious breach of faith with our Town, which prompted our Board of Selectmen to file a harsh letter to officially complain to ATTb, the MA DTE Cable Division and the FCC, as well as our state and federal legislators about this unacceptable situation. A Public Hearing also took place to provide a forum for ATTb to address our complaint.
In late 2002, ATTb completed its merger with Comcast Corporation, which finally provided our Town with a credible schedule for the completion of our Broadband upgrade. The buildout of Westford's cable plant finally resumed in early 2003, with an expected completion date of the end of May - well in advance of the original assurances from Comcast.
The Westford Cable Advisory Committee is pleased to note that our efforts to lobby for this upgrade have finally been rewarded, after hundreds of Townspeople joined our Broadband Now! petition drive (see the Petition Form for reference). The much-anticipated rollout of Broadband cable Internet access and Digital TV services is now expected to take place here sometime in June. We are optimistic that the inconsistent signal quality and too-frequent outages that have plagued Westford residents due to our aging cable infrastructure will soon be just an unpleasant memory. |
