City council clears the way for expansion of Oxford Networks
LEWISTON – With promises that all of Lewiston would be included in their new cable network, councilors welcomed Oxford Networks to the city.
“I just want to be sure that you intend to offer this service to everyone in Lewiston,” Councilor Mark Mason said. “This isn’t one of those deals where you serve one part of the city and they serve another and you stay away from each other?”
Oxford Networks President Rick Anstey said his company has every intention of going head-to-head with Adelphia cable, the city’s current cable provider.
“That has been our plan all along,” Anstey said.
Councilors approved the company’s franchise agreement, clearing the way for the company to begin its $15 million to $20 million fiber-optic network expansion. The company plans to offer fiber-optic based telecommunications services to at least 2,000 customers in downtown Lewiston and Auburn within a year, and expand services to 4,000 customers in the next 18 months. Anstey said the company hopes to have both cities completely wired and to offer their services to 40,000 buildings within five years.
Auburn councilors approved the franchise agreement Monday night.
The company would provide cable television, local and long distance telephone and high speed Internet access over the network.
Most telecommunications networks, including Verizon and Adelphia, currently have fiber-optic networks to Lewiston-Auburn streets. Homes and businesses tie into that network with slower copper and metal cables.
“In the past, the problem with bringing fiber-optics to the building has been expense,” Anstey said. “But recent technological breakthroughs have allowed us to send and receive fiber-optic signals inexpensively.”
Anstey said local service will be another of the company’s offerings. The company is based in Buckfield and currently provides Internet services to 13,000 Maine subscribers and about 14,000 telephone customers, mostly in western and central Maine. The company also owns a 400-mile fiber-optic pipeline between Bangor and Portsmouth, N.H.
“We chose Lewiston-Auburn because it is close to where we’ve done business for the last 107 years,” Anstey said. “This is where we work, this is where many of us live. We hope to take advantage of our localness.”
staylor@sunjournal.com
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