Plans call for continued growth and development in the Pine Tree State
Albany, NY – June 7, 2022 – FirstLight, a leading provider of digital infrastructure services to enterprise and carrier customers throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, announced today it has reached a milestone in Maine, having added approximately 300 route miles of new fiber throughout the State since 2019.
FirstLight has consistently invested in Maine, installing fiber throughout the state and serving some of Maine’s largest K-12, higher educational, healthcare, state and local government and financial services institutions, as well as manufacturers, retailers and small businesses, with low latency, symmetrical broadband, backed by responsive service and support. FirstLight currently has 3,600 fiber route miles in Maine and will build an additional 121 route miles of fiber by year-end. Its fiber network connects to the cable landing station in Halifax, Nova Scotia and traverses a unique route through the state and into Boston, Mass.
In addition to serving organizations, FirstLight also provides traditional telecommunications services to residential customers by operating as an Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) in parts of Central and Western Maine as well as a CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier).
“Maine has always been an important market for FirstLight as we’ve tried to provide secure, dependable digital infrastructure services including Internet to customers across a broad geographic region,” explained Kurt Van Wagenen, President and CEO. “We have a great relationship with the people of Maine and value the quality of its workforce.”
Additionally, the Town of Minot Board of Selectmen finished negotiations with FirstLight earlier this year to upgrade and expand their existing service to a Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) network in the northwest portion of Minot. FirstLight has completed the “make ready” stage of the project and is currently in the construction phase.
FirstLight also operates a 52,000 square foot data center in Brunswick, with cloud and colocation services. The facility was formerly a command and control center for NATO, and has undergone extensive upgrades focused on enhancing its security, HVAC, and electrical systems.
FirstLight has a number of support centers and offices located throughout its Maine footprint, and 17% of its workforce is based in Maine.
In addition to its organic growth, FirstLight has also invested by joining forces with several established organizations. In 2019, FirstLight acquired Maine Fiber Co. and in 2017, it acquired Maine-based Oxford Networks, a cloud, data, and telecommunications provider with a rich history in Maine that spans back more than a century, as well as 186 Communications. Both Maine Fiber Co. and 186 Communications were participants in the federal BTOP program administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to fund fiber builds in unserved and underserved areas of the country. FirstLight continues to honor all of the commitments made under these BTOP grants and operates these fiber assets in an open access manner consistent with BTOP guidelines.
FirstLight is a member of a number of Maine chambers of commerce, as well as industry trade groups including the Maine Technology Users Group, the Telecommunications Association of Maine, and the Maine Bankers Association.
FirstLight has also supported a number of local civic and nonprofit organizations over the years, including the Dempsey Challenge, an annual cancer bike and walk fundraiser; the Androscoggin and Mid Coast United Way organizations; Junior Achievement of Maine; and Pine Tree Camp, a summer camp serving children and other people with disabilities.
