Program Overview

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with the support of the Massachusetts Legislature, appropriated funds to support the MBI's mission to expand access to broadband service throughout the state through public and private partnerships. The Last Mile Programs, launched in 2016, supported residential broadband access projects in 53 Last Mile Towns, including 44 unserved Western and Central Massachusetts towns that lacked any residential broadband service and an additional nine underserved Western and Central Massachusetts towns that were partially served by cable. This work was completed in 2025.

MBI and the Executive Office of Housing & Economic Development (EOHED) built a flexible framework to help all Last Mile towns achieve broadband access, that allowed for a range of project models, which included multi-town collaborations, municipally-owned networks, and industry partnerships. Project models allowed for many technology and operational choices, as long as they met speed and sustainability standards.

Below is a map depicting project models deployed in Last Mile towns.