High-speed Internet for Princeton is delayed again

PRINCETON — Long-awaited high-speed Internet once again has been delayed.

Residents will have to wait until at least the second quarter of next year before high-speed Internet will be available.

The high-speed Internet will not be available at town buildings until the end of the year. Officials said it will then take four to six months to make high-speed Internet available to residents.

Officials said the delay occurred because the contractor hired to do the network design and cost estimates declined to sign the contract.

Stan Moss, chairman of the Board of Selectmen and a member of the town's Broadband Committee, said the delays are because of a revision in the construction timetable of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, the vendor that is bringing the service to the town as part of a federal stimulus project.

"This is the second time they have pushed back the date," Mr. Moss said. "It was originally going to be June, then July or August, and now it's December. The funding dries up in December, so we think it will happen by then."

Mr. Moss said that MBI is charged with bringing high speed to the 122 unserved and under-served communities in the Bay State. Most of the communities are in Western Massachusetts; only Fitchburg, Leominster, Lunenburg, Shirley and Ayer are farther east than Princeton.

MBI will be bringing the high-speed Internet service to town buildings, including the Town Hall, public safety center, Thomas Prince School, library, senior center and the municipal light department.

Once the service is provided to the town, it is the town's responsibility to build the network to service town's residences and businesses.

Voters approved spending $10,000 for network design at the town's annual meeting in May, but the selected contractor, G4S Technology, declined to sign the contract because it would like to do the actual build project and was concerned about a conflict of interest.

"The delay means we are pushing back on our estimated timing by a few months, but it in no way jeopardizes the project," said Stephen Cullen, chairman of the Princeton Broadband Committee.

Mr. Moss said a special town meeting to fund the broadband network was originally targeted for late summer, but he now expects the town meeting will be held in early 2014.

"Our goal is to have very fast Internet, with optional phone, at the lowest cost possible," he said.