A transformational event is at hand, encompassing all parts of Sullivan County. In early November, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that we would be receiving $29.9 million to dramatically expand super-highspeed, affordable broadband Internet access, particularly in unserved and underserved areas.

That was the biggest piece of a puzzle we’d been working on for a decade, and it represents the largest grant for a single project that this County has ever received.

So what’s next?

We will be engaging a project director to work with our forprofit partner Archtop Fiber, a Catskills-based fiber-optic communications provider with a solid goal to wire all of Sullivan County, much of the Hudson Valley and even part of Northeastern Pennsylvania with the latest high-speed Internet technology.

In just a few months, Archtop will have crews burying cable (called “microtrenching”) along our highways and other public rights-of-way. The grant requires full buildout by the end of 2026, so expect service to begin sometime before then. The cost is anticipated to be lower than average rates, and the speed is projected to be as high as 8 Mbps (upload and download). Archtop will handle that end of it.

The idea behind this public-private partnership is to put broadband access on par with other basic utilities, like electric service. You should be able to expect high-speed Internet availability wherever you live in Sullivan County, and this grant will not only provide wired availability but wireless availability via a dozen of our emergency communications towers scattered across the County.

Considering how important digital connectivity has become in our lives, I consider this project to not only be transformational but essential to making Sullivan an attractive place to play, live and work.

Sullivan County Manager Joshua Potosek

Monticello