Maine Goes NextGen on Fiber

PORTLAND, Maine -- Maine Fiber Company, Inc. today announced that it has selected nextGen Telecom Services Group, Inc. as the prime network infrastructure construction contractor for the Three Ring Binder project, an 1,100 mile fiber optic network spanning 100 Maine communities that encompasses 110,000 households, 600 schools, libraries and other anchor community institutions, and 38 government facilities. NextGen has also been selected by Maine Fiber Company, Inc. to provide on-going maintenance and emergency restoration services.

Maine Fiber Company, Inc. was formed to manage the construction, maintenance and leasing of the Three Ring Binder network that is being built using a combination of federal grant money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and private investment. Maine Fiber Company, Inc. provides access to its high-capacity network to all qualified users on an open access, non-discriminatory basis. Any carrier or other organization requiring fiber optic facilities may lease network capacity to provide quality, affordable services to business and consumer end users within these communities – and to hundreds of other communities based on building laterals from the main network.

“In a full and open competitive bidding process, nextGen stood alone in terms of delivering the most cost-effective and comprehensive services combined with the facilities, workforce and a project manager all based in Maine to not only build the network, but also ensure it is maintained going forward,” said Joshua Broder, General Manager of Maine Fiber Company, Inc. “More importantly, nextGen brings deep experience in Maine to the project in terms of building fiber optic networks for service providers, wind farms, smart grids, businesses and other customers – particularly in rural areas.”

NextGen Inc.