PORTLAND (AP) – Broadband Internet service is trying to reach a broader customer base in Maine now that the urban markets are nearing saturation.

Competition for market share in the fast-growing broadband industry involves cable television providers, phone companies and even locally based service providers. As high-speed service becomes widely available, more Maine communities become attractive to businesses that rely on quality Internet connections as a fundamental tool.

Verizon rolled out its DSL broadband service – a high-speed connection provided over regular telephone lines – to the state’s largest cities first, but has been adding smaller cities and towns in recent months. The company’s goal is to make DSL available on 80 percent of its lines by the end of the year.

“We believe DSL has a great future here in Maine and beyond,” company spokesman Peter Riley said.

The competition has sparked a price war, with monthly fees that range from the mid-$20 range to the mid-$40s. Most providers offer deals that slash those rates for a few initial months of service.

Fletcher Kittredge, who founded Great Works Internet in Biddeford nine years ago, said smaller towns give Maine-based Internet providers an opportunity to reach customers before larger companies move in.

“All Internet access is local,” Kittredge said. For a customer, it doesn’t matter if your DSL connection is through Verizon or GWI. “Bigger companies don’t have any inherent advantages.”

And, often, smaller outfits can move in quicker than their bigger counterparts.

“If you go to a small enough town, you’re the only game in town, or you’ll only have a few competitors,” he said.

Prices on provider equipment have lowered in recent years, as has the cost of connecting a customer to the larger Internet, allowing a small provider to offer broadband service for towns as small as 2,000 households.

But some towns say they’ve been left behind because the local cable provider hasn’t undertaken the technological improvements needed to offer broadband.

AP-ES-06-24-03 0215EDT