A public-private partnership has been awarded a $25.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to expand broadband access in Maine.  The project, called the Three Ring Binder, will create an 1,100 mile fiber optic network consisting of three redundant loops covering northern, eastern and western Maine.  

The network will pass through more than 100 communities, allowing telecommunications providers to connect small businesses and home to the network.  It will be privately owned and operated.

The project also presents a unique opportunity to create data centers in the place or alongside Maine’s traditional industry mills.  These mills often have onsite electricity and cooling, which are key needs for data centers.  Now, data centers can be located in rural Maine with high-speed connectivity to the rest of the U.S. to the south and to Canada and Europe to the north.

Great Works Internet of Biddeford is leading the project, with partners in other telecommunications companies as well as the University of Maine System and other non-profit entities. The grant, one of 18 projects funded nationwide through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will be supplemented by nearly $7 million in private investment.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke visited Bangor in December to announce the award.  He stressed the project’s importance to economic development, research and development, education and health care.