The broadband services
company Redzone will expand to 26 communities stretching from Berwick
north to Fort Kent in 2019, bringing its customer base to more than
300,000 Maine households and businesses.
The multi-million dollar
expansion by the Rockland-based company, which is privately funded,
follows an equally ambitious expansion in 2018, that included networks
serving Farmington, Dover-Foxcroft, Calais and Machias.
The 2019
expansion will be in 10 of the state’s 16 counties, and focuses on areas
targeted by 35,000 service requests made by Maine businesses and
residents in 2018, a Friday news release from the company said.
Once
the expansion is completed, the company said its coverage will be
available to more than 100 communities and 50% of all Maine homes .
Communities set for expansion in 2019, by county, are:
Androscoggin County: Durham, Greene,
Lisbon,
Livermore Falls; Aroostook County: Caribou, Fort Kent, Presque
Isle; Cumberland County: New Gloucester, Windham; Franklin County: New
Sharon, Wilton;
Hancock: Bucksport; Kennebec County: Gardiner, Oakland, Winthrop; Oxford County: Rumford; Piscataquis County: Milo;
Somerset County: Fairfield, Madison, Norridgewock, Skowhegan; Waldo County: Frankfort, Morrill; York County: Alfred, Berwick, Waterboro.
Portions of 50 communities adjacent to the communities listed will also be part of the network expansion, the company said.
Jim
McKenna, president of Redzone Wireless, said the company’s technology
combined with its financial model allow it to expand broadband quickly
to rural areas — 50,000 customers in 12 months.
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