High-Speed Internet For Everyone: Schoharie County's Leading The Digital Revolution
High-speed internet for everyone in this rural Upstate NY community will open doors like never before.
Schoharie County’s $33.6 million door-to-every-last-door broadband build-out will open doors to economic like never before, pairing our rich agricultural past with the technologies of the future.
Transformative.
That's the word everyone's using to describe the $33.6 million door-to-every-last-door broadband build-out underway in Schoharie County. When it's done at the end of 2026, we'll be one of just three percent of counties across the country where everyone has access to high-speed internet. 100 percent.
Because we don't take no for an answer.
What 300 Miles of Fiber Means for You?
Three hundred miles of fiber optic cable connecting 500 underserved households plus another 4,000 who'll be able to tap into the critical digital economy—the thread that binds everything and everyone:
Entrepreneurs looking to showcase their business anywhere
Health care services with virtual appointments and consults with providers around the globe
Civic engagement opportunities
Law and EMS services — "No longer will you have to drive 4 miles down the road to call 911," points out Assemblyman Chris Tague
Education at every level (Remember when families were searching for service during COVID?)
From Revolutionary Past to Digital Future
"It's an opportunity to transform the community," said ConnectALL's Josh Breitbart at a ceremonial unrolling of broadband cable at the Carrot Barn. The location's significance isn't lost on anyone: The farm's part of 250 years of Revolutionary local history in the Schoharie Valley.
County and state partners from local government, education, business and economic development have joined forces to power a Digital Revolution.
Now, broadband will take Schoharie County into a future—the Digital Revolution—where agriculture, tech, industry, education, and the past come together and thrive, all thanks to federal and state grants along with investment from the County Board of Supervisors.
"Reliable, high-speed internet is essential for our schools, farms, small businesses, and families and the beginning of a more connected and prosperous future that helps close the digital divide," said John Crescimanno, the county's Economic Development coordinator.
No more digital divide.
Local Roots, Digital Growth
Local partner MIDTEL is playing an important role in that future. They'll be managing the system once it's built—something that guarantees its success. "It's one thing to build it. It's another to turn it over to someone like MIDTEL" with its own 125-year, four-generation history here, believes FARR Technologies' Peter Rasmussen.
"That's what gets us excited about this," said MIDTEL's Jason Becker. "We hear it in the grocery stores. People see this as a way to think differently about their businesses and business expansion."
That's already the case in Sharon Springs, where Japanese developer Hoshino Resorts is at work on a one-of-a-kind, five-star destination spa—their first in the country—expected to breathe new life and opportunities into the village of 500 long famous for its waters. "Customers will be coming with very high expectations," said Rasmussen. Cue the Internet of Things.
Your Digital Doorway
Door-to-last-door internet will be a powerful selling point for entrepreneurs looking for all Schoharie County has to offer: friendly communities, award-winning schools, farms and foods, and a quiet outdoor life they can see themselves becoming part of for years—or like MIDTEL's Beckers, generations—to come.
It's a Digital Revolution SEEC's been working to inspire since its inception, work that's included a four-part interactive Digital Power Hours series that equipped local business owners with tools for success; a $1.2 million Digital Strategies Initiative Program that helped 40 local businesses with digital upgrades and marketing; and free Main Street Wi-Fi access in the Villages of Schoharie and Middleburgh (and soon, Sharon Springs).
Why don't you join us and become part of Schoharie County's Digital Revolution—and together, our future.
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