Broad Mission For Broadband Institute's New Executive | Fitchburg native carries the ball to bring high-speed Internet to all
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Judith A. Dumont comes to the Massachusetts Broadband Institute with 20 years of experience in the telecom and technology sector.
The Westborough-based Massachusetts Broadband Institute has a new director and an outstanding application with the federal government for $100 million in funding to bolster the state’s telecommunications infrastructure.
Gov. Deval Patrick named Fitchburg native Judith A. Dumont to head the agency, which is housed within the offices of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. Dumont takes over for Sharon Gillett, who left MBI to take a post at the Federal Communications Commission.
The pending application for stimulus funding would fund the installation of a 500-mile broadband ring in Western Massachusetts. The federal government has announced 18 stimulus awards totaling $183 million for fiber optic infrastructure and will continue approving projects on a rolling basis through February.
In total the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $7.2 billion for broadband investment across the United States.
High-Speed Connections
Dumont’s background is in the telecommunications sector, if not broadband exactly. She was an executive with Burlington-based Lightbridge Inc. through 2005. Since that time, she’s worked primarily in a consulting role with technology companies on hiring issues.
Dumont points to her experience at Lightbridge as preparation for her current post.
“The work I did there involved taking large, complex projects and getting them implemented on time and on budget,” she said.
Dumont’s schedule is pretty well laid out for her. Patrick created MBI and set the agency’s goal to extend affordable high-speed Internet access to all homes, businesses, schools, libraries, medical facilities, government offices, and other public places by 2011.
And while high-speed Internet may seem ubiquitous today, particularly in tech-savvy Massachusetts, the fact is that there are holes in the state’s broadband infrastructure. There are four communities in Western Massachusetts — Monterey, Savoy, Hawley and Wendell — that have no broadband access at all. Other communities, including some in Central Massa-chusetts, have spotty access. For businesses in those communities, they are likely using old-fashioned dial-up to access the Internet, which is a huge disadvantage in today’s economy.
Dumont and MBI will be working with various telecommunications companies, including those in the fiber optic and cable industries, to identify holes in the state’s infrastructure and then fill in those holes through a combination of public and private investment.
“Our intent is not to be the last-mile service provider,” she said. “We’ll need many different companies to work with us and to come up with a solution.”
MBI has already received a $2 million grant from the federal government to begin mapping the state at the census block level in terms of broadband access. And the agency has already begun work in conjunction with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation on deploying 55 miles of new fiber optic conduit along Interstate 91 that, according to Dumont, will service “as the primary backbone” of delivering broadband to towns in Western Massachusetts.
While MBI’s mission may be large in scope, its staff is small. There are six people employed by the agency, including Dumont. However, it does share resources with the tech collaborative as well as other state agencies.
Dumont earned a bachelor’s degree at Fitchburg State College and a master's of science in information systems at Boston University. She lives in Nahant.
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