ErieNet Set To Begin Construction Phase
News Release
April 11, 2025
CONTACT: Peter Anderson
Peter.Anderson@erie.gov
ERIE NET SET TO BEGIN CONSTRUCTION PHASE
400-mile Dark Fiber Broadband Network will Connect Unserved/Underserved Areas of Erie County; Project Expected to be Substantially Complete by End of 2025
$36 million in American Rescue Plan Funding Powers Critical Investment
ERIE COUNTY, NY— The mission to address the unmet broadband needs of unserved areas, improve services in underserved areas of Erie County and enable world class broadband investment and deployment county wide has entered its next stage as construction is set to begin on the Erie Net broadband initiative. The fiber optic backbone of the 400-mile network will be owned by Erie County but managed and controlled by ErieNet, a not-for-profit local development corporation (LDC). ErieNet will be open for any viable entity to use or provide services to support broadband technologies and services. It is intended to enhance economic development opportunities, promote a better quality of life and position Erie County as a globally competitive community.
Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz today joined NYS Assemblymember Patrick Burke, Town of Boston Supervisor Jason Keding, Erie Net LDC Executive Director Melissa Hartman and Erie Net officials, and personnel from the Erie County Department of Environment and Planning at the Town of Boston Town Hall to announce the start of the project’s “fiber hanging” phase, which is expected to be substantially complete by the end of 2025.
“Erie Net will transform the way Erie County communicates, evening the broadband playing field and bringing access to high-quality broadband service,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “I thank President Biden, Senator Schumer and Congressional Democrats for passing the American Rescue Plan that made this investment possible. Unlike their counterparts across the aisle, they showed that they care about actual everyday Americans and want to make their lives better.”
“In 2025, fast and reliable internet access is no longer a luxury – it’s a core need for work, school, and healthcare,” State Senator Sean Ryan said. “Unfortunately, large segments of our population still lack access to affordable high-speed home internet. That’s why we’ve worked so hard with our partners at the federal, state, and county levels to ensure that living in a rural or low-income neighborhood is no longer a barrier to accessing high-quality internet. With today’s milestone, we are one step closer to ErieNet helping provide service to Erie County’s long-underserved neighborhoods.”
NYS Assemblymember Patrick Burke stated, “We started the Erie County Broadband Commission with a simple understanding, broadband internet is a necessity in our modern society and where the private sector fails, it is up to the government to provide needed utilities. A huge congratulations to County Executive Poloncarz and the team he pulled together for seeing this project through. What once was a dream is now a reality!”
“This is an exciting day for ErieNet, LDC and all of Erie County. The start of the fiber infrastructure installation is a combination of vision, hard work, and determination. It is truly remarkable to be one step closer to the County's vision of bringing fiber connectivity to all,” said Erie Net LDC Executive Director Melissa Hartman. “Once completed, affordable and accessible internet will be realized not just for the inner ring suburbs but for rural and inner-city communities alike.”
“We are excited to see ErieNet construction begin here in the Town of Boston,” said Town Supervisor Jason Keding. “Reliable and high-speed broadband is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity for education, business, healthcare, and daily life. ErieNet’s investment in our community will help close the digital divide, expand opportunities for our residents, and ensure that even our most rural areas are connected to the future. This is a significant step forward for Boston and for all of Erie County.”
The new broadband infrastructure offers significant benefits to the county including but not limited to:
Reducing operational costs for the county with respect to current telecommunications costs.
Connecting public safety, municipal offices, DPW and other operational functions
Support for education, healthcare, and more.
Enable private service providers to invest and develop additional capabilities such as “fiber-to-the-home,” “fiber-to-the-premises” and widespread availability of 5G service.
Making fiber available to rural areas to support expansion of broadband to unserved and under served areas.
Optical fiber is a hair-thin strand of glass, specially designed to trap and transmit light pulses. Fiber broadband technology uses light instead of electricity to carry a signal. It can carry high bandwidth signals over long distances without signal degradation, and it can provide those signals simultaneously in both directions – upload and download. Fiber-optic broadband infrastructure can support virtually unlimited amounts of bandwidth use and has very little signal degradation over long distances.