Nearly thirty towns and townships working through seven initiatives have been selected as members with access to VETRO’s internet infrastructure intelligence platform and support in their efforts to expand access to high-speed broadband in the state of Maine.
Date
Portland, Maine: VETRO Inc., a software company delivering unparalleled internet infrastructure intelligence™ through a unique mapping platform, is pleased to announce the second cohort of participants in its VETRO Cares for Maine program. VETRO Cares is dedicated to accelerating community initiatives to bring high-speed broadband to residents and businesses in their home state by providing access to its industry-leading broadband intelligence platform featuring software, services, and data tailor-made for public sector broadband project planning and asset management.
The local broadband initiatives included in Cohort 2 are the Town of Rome, the Town of Northport, Greater East Grand Region Broadband, Mount Desert, Southwest Waldo County Broadband Coalition, Mid-Coast Internet Coalition, and the Town of Sebago.
“There is nothing more exciting to me personally than to be able to apply the technology that VETRO has built to improving internet connectivity in my home state of Maine,” said Will Mitchell, VETRO Co-founder and CEO. “We want to enable towns all around the state to jump the line to future-proof fiber networks. That level of connectivity will allow communities, businesses, and residents to thrive in our new digital economy.”
Through the VETRO Cares program, all participants receive a six-month subscription to the VETRO Fibermap platform, training and ongoing user support, and broadband planning and design capabilities with access to mission-critical state and federal data sets. Representatives from each initiative will meet monthly to discuss their progress, challenges, and learnings, guided by VETRO’s Vice President of Broadband Strategy, Brian Mefford.
“We are so pleased to be able to extend the benefits of this program to a second group of community broadband initiatives,” said Mefford. “Maine communities deserve real-time broadband intelligence that informs an array of project options, supports communication with providers and local constituents, and accelerates deployments. We are excited to see how the VETRO platform and this collaborative effort can make an impact in bringing broadband internet to more residents of Maine.”
VETRO Cares launched in November of 2020 with an initial cohort of 9 participants who are now actively leveraging the data-driven insights provided by the VETRO platform to carry out their plans to expand broadband access to unserved and underserved populations in areas across Maine.
“VETRO has been a great resource in my work with broadband committees in the towns of Harrison and Naples,” said Clara McCool, Broadband Equity Fellow, Resilience Corps – AmeriCorps Program, Greater Portland Council of Governments. “One of the biggest assets has been the ability to put all of our data in one place — we can upload data on speed tests, served vs. unserved locations, and survey results to paint a clearer picture of what internet service is actually like in these communities, and figure out the best solutions for them. It also will be helpful to capture images of unserved areas to send into ConnectMaine to qualify for grant funding. The cost analysis feature will be incredibly useful in preparing us with knowledge about network design and cost going into conversations with ISPs, and will help us communicate plans to the public.”
VETRO aims to empower communities, non-profits, and network planners, owners and operators that are seeking or have received public funding by equipping them with the technology solutions needed to deploy critically important fiber optic network infrastructure successfully.
About VETRO Inc:
VETRO is a SaaS software company delivering unparalleled internet infrastructure intelligence™ through a unique mapping platform. We deliver the world’s best map-based SaaS platform to plan, design, build and operate the internet infrastructure that enables a connected and sustainable world. VETRO is built for ISPs and others who own or manage fiber networks and need a fiber specific asset management platform. At VETRO, we are passionate about enabling better connectivity for all, and delivering disruptive digital transformation for all Communications Service Providers. Learn more at VETROFibermap.com.
