Gov. Patrick Celebrates Success of Broadband Expansion at Phoenix Communications

Submitted by the office of Gov. Deval Patrick 

Governor Deval Patrick on Tuesday, Sept. 10, celebrated the expansion of Phoenix Communications, which engineers, installs and services fiber-optic networks in Shrewsbury. The company’s recent growth from 23 employees to 104 has been bolstered and supported by the Governor’s work to expand broadband access in unserved and underserved communities, enabling residents and businesses to better compete in the 21st century global economy. 

“I thank the leadership and employees at Phoenix Communications for their commitment to helping Massachusetts stay competitive in the 21st century global economy,” said Patrick. “Today, high speed broadband is as necessary an infrastructure as roads and bridges. It is an educational necessity, an economic necessity, a medical necessity, a public and commercial and a competitive necessity.”

Patrick and the Legislature created the Massachusetts Broadband Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative in the Broadband Act of 2008, providing $40 million in state bond funds to start the process of connecting the unconnected in Western Massachusetts. In 2010, $45.4 million in federal stimulus funding was awarded to the Massachusetts Broadband Institute at MassTech through the highly-competitive second round of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.

Established in 2000, Phoenix Communications operates throughout New England and New York and has grown to one of the largest fiber-optic cable contractors in the area. At the beginning of the Governor’s broadband initiative, the company had 23 employees. The company recently worked with the Massachusetts Office of Business Development to find a new location that could meet the growing company’s needs, and earlier this year it moved into its new space in Shrewsbury. Since the implementation of the Governor’s broadband initiative, the company has more than quadrupled in size, now with over 100 employees.

"Today we have over 100 employees engaged in delivering the infrastructure that is being used to educate our young people and grow companies that lead the world in innovation," said Mark Langevin, president and CEO of Phoenix Communications. "The Governor's dedication to growing the digital infrastructure of Massachusetts is one of his Administration's signature successes and we are privileged to have worked with him to grow our company and have him here today."

Earlier this year, Governor Patrick lit the first section of MassBroadband 123, a new 1,200-mile fiber-optic network that will bring high-speed Internet access to underserved areas of western and central Massachusetts. In June, Governor Patrick marked the beginning of operations on OpenCape, a new 300-mile open-access fiber-optic network  serving the Cape and the Island, connecting over 70 important community facilities, including community colleges, high schools, libraries, public safety facilities and other municipal buildings.

“Through the Massachusetts Broadband Institute at MassTech and the MassBroadband 123 project, the Commonwealth is working hard to expand broadband access across the state,” said Pamela Goldberg, CEO of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. “Collaborations with industry partners like Phoenix Communications help us meet our shared goal of helping residents, businesses and students participate more fully in the global innovation economy.”

About the Massachusetts Broadband Institute

The Massachusetts Broadband Institute at MassTech is working to extend affordable high-speed Internet access to all homes, businesses, schools, libraries, medical facilities, government offices and other public places across the Commonwealth, allowing all regions to participate more fully in the innovation economy. MBI also works to promote broadband usage and adoption by our residents and small businesses. Learn more at http://broadband.masstech.org.