County receives $11.5 million grant for high-speed wireless internet

ALBION – Orleans County has been awarded an $11,562,698 state grant to upgrade wireless internet service throughout the county.

The Orleans County Department of Planning and Development applied for the grant through Empire State Development’s ConnectALL Municipal Infrastructure Program. This will allow the county to increase wireless internet speeds from the current 25 Mega Bit Per Seconds (Mbps) to 100 (Mbps).

The county recently completed a build-out of a wireless internet system. There are now 19 towers and the county will add two or three more, likely near Lake Ontario where there are gaps in internet coverage, county officials said.

Orleans has two years to complete the project, upgrading the internet infrastructure on all the towers so 100 Mbps is available in download and upload speeds. The grant also will include a digital literacy component to help people learn about the technology.

County legislators accepted the grant on Tuesday and accepted a bid of $11,216,500 from North Shore Networks LLC in Medina to implement the faster internet service.

That company is led by Duston Ellis, who worked over a decade in Kentucky for Broadlinc, helping run a high-speed internet service in a rural area.

Ellis moved to Medina to be near his wife’s family. He expects to hire a project manager and two technicians as part of the effort in Orleans County.