CAROLINE, NY (607NewsNow) — Dryden’s municipal broadband program is expanding.
Local and state lawmakers broke ground Monday in Caroline on a project that’ll connect roughly 1,500 households in the town to high-speed internet. The expansion was funded by an $11.6 million dollar grant awarded to Dryden and Caroline by the New York State ConnectALL office. According to a news release, ” The site of the groundbreaking will host the municipally owned local internet service provider’s Caroline based point of presence or POP. This single room facility will allow the 1,500 households in the town of Caroline to join the 6,500 households from Dryden in New York State’s first and only publicly owned and operated fiberoptic broadband service provider.”
“This is a major milestone in a transformational infrastructure project,” Dryden Fiber‘s executive director Dave Makar said. “Today, over five hundred families in Caroline and Dryden are limited to dial-up or DSL internet speeds for wired internet. They have been left behind by the market and Dryden Fiber is working to deliver on our commitment to provide high speed fiberoptic broadband to 100% of the households in both towns. These are families who are excluded from the modern economy, education, and healthcare.”
Dryden Fiber launched in 2022.
“All New Yorkers should have access to affordable, high-speed internet, ensuring greater access to jobs, healthcare, education, and economic opportunity,” Sen. Chuck Schumer said in a statement issued before Monday’s ceremony. “The expansion of Dryden Fiber into the Town of Caroline will be a major boost for broadband in Tompkins County, and I am thrilled to see the federal dollars I championed in the American Rescue Plan delivered to Upstate New York. The Towns of Dryden and Caroline know reliable, fast internet access is a necessity, and I applaud Governor Hochul’s efforts putting these federal dollars to work. I will continue to fight tooth and nail to ensure that the Southern Tier has the necessary broadband infrastructure to stay connected.”
Officials say the construction in Caroline will be completed in Dec. 2026.
