Chazy & Westport named Smart Rural Community provider

WESTPORT | Chazy & Westport Communications was named a Smart Rural Community (SRC) provider by NTCA -The Rural Broadband Assoc. In order to receive this recognition, Chazy & Westport had to affirm 25/3 Mbps broadband to at least 50 percent of its service area with broadband subscription rates of at least 50 percent. The locally founded and operated telecom also had to prove its commitment to principles of collaboration and innovation. The Town of Westport will be designated as a Smart Rural Community in Rural Broadband Assoc. program materials, joining a national network of similarly innovative communities throughout the U.S. "The Town of Westport salutes Chazy & Westport Communications for its hard work to meet these standards," Westport Supervisor Michael "Ike" Tyler said in a news release. Standards met, he said, "enable our residents' businesses to fully participate in today's connected society. Because of access to high-speed internet, Westport provides its residents with educational and economic opportunities on par with those in the most connected regions of America." According to the association, Smart Rural Community providers are the companies keeping small-town America connected. "They lead and collaborate on broadband-enabled projects that improve economic development, provide technology for advancing education, and enhance state-of-the-art health care through telemedicine." NTCA Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield commended Chazy & Westport for their achievement. "I applaud Chazy & Westport Communications and Westport for their commitment to enabling cutting-edge technologies that drive innovation and promote economic development in their region and nationwide," she said. "We are so excited to welcome another Smart Rural Community provider into this growing network of innovative broadband providers delivering the internet's fastest speeds in some of the most remote and rural communities of our country. Based in Arlington, Virginia, NTCA -The Rural Broadband Association represents 850 independent, community-based telecoms leading the ongoing technological evolution with robust and high-quality services to make rural communities vibrant places to live and do business. About Chazy & Westport Chazy & Westport Communications has roots in a small, independent telephone company founded in 1905. In 1952, Gerald R. Forcier acquired Westport, Essex, and Lewis Telephone Companies. And Chazy & Westport was incorporated in 1959 when he purchased the Chazy Telephone Co. The first digital central office in the North Country was installed in Chazy and West Chazy in 1981. The same year, Westelcom, a full-service interconnect, was also formed to provide customers with services like phone and voice mail systems that regulation prohibited a telephone company from offering. By 2002, Chazy & Westport was availing DSL broadband service to 100 percent of their territory. Today, most of Chazy & Westport's territory is fiber-based and still growing throughout their franchised areas of Altona, Mooers, Champlain, Elizabethtown, Lewis, Sciota, Wadhams, Chazy, West Chazy, and Westport.

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Chazy & Westport named Smart Rural Community provider

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