The Southport Broadband Committee will be holding an in-person meeting on Saturday, May 1 at 1:30 p.m. outside the Southport Town Hall, and four informational Zoom meetings Monday through Thursday next week, regarding the May 7 referendum on whether or not the town should borrow $2.4 million to build a broadband system for the island.

The Zoom meetings will be held May 3, 10 to 11 a.m.; May 4, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.; May 5. 7 to 8 p.m.; and May 6, 1 to 2 p.m. To request Zoom link, contact: southportcommunitybroadband@gmail.com

Earlier this week, Southport selectman and broadband committee member Smith Climo announced that the town will be receiving federal funds in the amount of $56,000 +/- , over a two-year period, and that money will be dedicated to the Fiber Optic System if the voters give it approval on Friday, May 7.

Another committee member, Geoff Chatterton, said via an email to the newspaper, that "Addressing the needs of the 7% of Southport households who are currently unserved is one goal of Southport’s broadband effort, but it is misleading to focus on that figure while ignoring the benefits for the majority of the population who are unhappy with their existing service choice, price, speed and reliability.

"The reality is that no shareholder-owned entity like Spectrum is particularly interested in competing for Southport’s tiny 300 subscriber market. The 30 miles of fiber optic cable it will take to wire every residence and business on the island is put to far better use in a denser population where they can wire up a thousand subscribers per mile. That will be the case for years to come, and in the meantime Southport residents will be financing the rollout of fiber optic systems in those other places through ever-increasing subscriber fees while enduring spotty connections and sub-standard customer service.

"By keeping 30% of subscriber fees right here on the island, this project will be fully paid for by subscribers, not taxpayers. Instead of sending those dollars away as profit to Spectrum, we can use them to lower bills and vastly improve service. And it only takes a third of Southport households to make this happen without impacting the mil rate.

"I encourage anyone with questions to reach out to a broadband committee member, visit our website at https://southportislandcommunitybroadband.org or attend one of the informational Zoom meetings."

The three attached PDFs outline The Cost of Southport-owned Fiber Optic Network, the Southport Internet Planning Report (done by Mark Ouellette of Axiom Technologies in December 2020), and examples/comparison of communication bills for a household. These PDFs are also available on the broadband committee's website.