Pioneer Broadband crosses border with fiber optics

Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
CROSSING BORDERS — Pioneer Broadband of Houlton established a new fiber optic line between the United States and Canada Friday afternoon. Taking part in the event are, from left, Tim McAfee, Mike McNutt, Travis Hill, Don Dee and Cameron McNutt of Pioneer Broadband; Beth Markey and Janet Johnson of Bell-Aliant; and Yves Roy and Richard Roy of Dry Cable.
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Gathering data on the Internet will soon be easier for customers and clients of Pioneer Broadband.
    The Houlton-based provider of communication services to communities across northern and eastern Maine officially began construction of a new fiber optic connection from its datacenter in Houlton to the Bell-Aliant offices in Woodstock, New Brunswick. The new connection will not only provide increased capacity for Pioneer’s Internet traffic, it will also create a new “superhighway” path for other businesses in the state, according to Tim McAfee, chief technology officer for Pioneer Broadband.
    “In Maine, most of the Internet traffic flows in and out of the telecommunication centers in the greater Portland area,” McAfee said. “Maine has always been an Internet cul-de-sac and when problems have occurred north of Portland, the whole state of Maine telecommunications have suffered.”
    A fiber optic network was passed from Maine into Canada Friday afternoon with a ceremony near the Houlton-Woodstock border crossing.
    Businesses and schools have an increased need for high-availability Internet service, according to McAfee.
    “Business that want to locate in Maine, desire to have Internet diversity in case the connection fails in one direction,” he said. “Service needs to continue from an alternate source. With the construction of a northbound Internet path, businesses that need a more robust network can stay in Maine, or build new. Maine’s potential for datacenter growth is greatly increased.”
    To accomplish this information superhighway, Pioneer Broadband collaborated with Bell-Aliant, a Canadian Internet company.
    “For years, Pioneer’s moto has been, ‘Crossing the Digital Divide,’” McAfee said. “This new fiber optic connection is one more major crossing in the overall network improvement. It has the potential for many businesses, healthcare and educational facilities in Maine to be better served.”
    Pioneer will be offer “lit” services for Maine businesses that require more diverse Internet connectivitiy. Lit services are Internet over fiber optics versus access to fiber optic through cabling.
    McAfee added Friday’s cable ceremony marked the first private fiber optic crossing of the border. Construction should be completed by Sept. 30.