Fidium expands its Shelburne network

Thursday, May 22, 2025

Fidium Fiber has begun construction to bring high-speed fiber-optic internet to 20 addresses in Shelburne. The work is expected to finish next year.

The current construction is part of a broader project to bring broadband fiber internet to underserved and unserved areas in Chittenden County. Fidium is partnering with the Chittenden County Communications Union District, which was awarded $2.1 million this past fall by Vermont Community Broadband Board to support the expansion in Shelburne as well as Essex Town, Jericho, Westford and Williston.

Shelburne is one of eight towns in the district, which was created as part of Vermont Act 71 in 2021, as a local authority in charge of building investment in and coordinating the construction of broadband internet access beyond where private companies have chosen to create infrastructure.

The 20 addresses in Shelburne represent the first phase of the expansion. According to David Solomon, Shelburne’s representative to the union district, the second phase, which would expand access to another 40 homes in town, is still in the process of securing funding.

The $2.1 million slated for the first phase of Fidium’s expansion comes from funding through the American Rescue Plan Act. Future funding streams, however, are less certain.

On May 15, the Vermont Community Broadband Board received a letter from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration cancelling $5.3 million in grant funding that had been awarded under the Biden administration’s State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program to help implement Vermont’s digital equity plan. The letter cited “impermissible and unconstitutional racial preferences” as the reason the program funding was rescinded.

The digital equity capacity grant is separate from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, for which the National Telecommunications and Information Administration approved Vermont’s initial $229 million proposal last August. Fidium is applying for some of that money to complete the second phase of the Chittenden County fiber-optic expansion. However, according to the statement welcoming applications for funding, those funds are still under federal review.

Should that funding fall through, Phase 2 expansion in Shelburne may become more difficult.

“The arrangement that we have with Fidium is dependent upon the BEAD funding, but my guess is any shortfall in that allocation would probably be distributed through all the state programs, not just the program that the (district) is in charge of. So, it would have an impact, but it’s not the sum total of funding,” Solomon said.

Vermont still plans to have the entire state connected to broadband by the end of 2028.