AGAWAM – The town of Agawam is beginning to explore alternate routes for an internet broadband network.

Mayor William Sapelli has assembled a Municipal Fiber Task Force to study the possibility of either implementing a town-owned and managed internet service or partnering with a third party to establish a new network.

This undertaking is a direct result of Comcast’s recent announcement to impose data caps on its customers who exceed their monthly data limit. Residents with Comcast who exceed 1.2 Terabytes of data within a month will be charged more. At the time of the creation of the task force, additional fees for overages were slated to begin affecting customers in August of this year. Comcast has since stated it would delay implementing a data cap until 2022.

“Comcast’s announcement has created a tremendous amount of anxiety in town, and people are rightfully concerned with exceeding the monthly cap and facing higher internet bills,” said Sapelli in a Facebook post on the town of Agawam’s official page.

The task force will consist of seven individuals: Agawam residents Paul Jenney and Brian Burbank, West of the River Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Robin Wozniak, City Councilor Rosemary Sandlin, Agawam’s IT Director Jeff Hulbert, Cable TV Manager Les Tingley, and the Director of Planning and Community Development Marc Strange.

According to Sapelli, the goal of the task force is to research the options Agawam has for their own network, and see which one best suits the town. Beyond that, the group will also analyze the different costs for either a third party broadband network or a town-owned one. They will then report their findings to Sapelli sometime in the spring.

“They’re going to look for, ‘what does it cost to have somebody actually run [the fiber] … what would it cost for us to string the fiber and run it ourselves,’” said Sapelli. “We’re going to look at the costs related to that, but I don’t know right now until they return back to me with information.”

Despite these current unknowns, Sapelli explained that this will be a “fairly expensive” endeavor. Once more information about costs is unveiled, Sapelli will then determine where money for this project will come from.

The other obstacle Agawam faces is their lack of a municipal electrical utility, which will make setting up a fiber network more difficult, according to Sapelli. Westfield meanwhile, which has partnered with several cities to create Whip City Fiber, boasts their own municipal electrical utility in Westfield Gas & Electric. Holyoke and Chicopee also has their own electrical utility.

“They have and own their own utility poles, and we don’t” said Sapelli. “So, we got to look at and see what the cost is for stringing at least 130 miles of fiber.”

The task force will be working with Whip City Fiber to weigh the pros and cons of a town-owned and managed network. Sapelli said that the task force will bring people in from Westfield to interview them, and see what a situation like this has to offer.

"I don’t have the background to do this, so that’s why I have the task force…to answer these questions for me,” said Sapelli.

The task force will give someone like Wozniak, executive director from the Chamber of Commerce, the ability to explore the impact of a municipal broadband network on both residents and businesses in Agawam.

“I’m really excited to be able to play both sides, and support both the residents and the small businesses,” said Wozniak, who has also been a resident of Agawam for 20 years.

Much like Sapelli, Wozniak is also learning the intricacies of a municipal fiber network. While she does not know much about it yet, Wozniak does think that, if implemented, a municipal fiber network will have a positive impact on the small businesses in Agawam.

“I think right now, people are tired of the monopoly,” said Wozniak. “What we have right now is adequate at best. Going forward, if we continue virtually, we’re going to need something more economical and reliable.”

Since town-owned broadband networks are typically less expensive, Wozniak believes that cheaper access to internet could alleviate some of the economic pain businesses have gone through over the course of the pandemic.

“I think any cost savings is going to help the businesses,” said Wozniak. “Any way we can streamline and help the businesses save some valuable dollars is in the best interests of the community as a whole.”

Agawam joins West Springfield, Holyoke, and Springfield in the fight against these data caps. The Agawam City Council unanimously opposed data caps during a Feb. 16 meeting. Comcast-Xfinity is currently Agawam’s number one internet provider.

“If this is going to be a way that the businesses can keep a few dollars to put back into their businesses, it’s a win-win,” said Wozniak. “I don’t see any downfall from this [fiber network] happening.”