CHARLESTON – Cornerstone Communications, a provider of broadband Internet services in eastern and central Maine, has applied for a grant to provide rapid expansion of broadband Internet coverage to the Maine Highlands region, according to a press release.

The grant application will be reviewed by ConnectME Authority, a new state agency created to promote broadband services in rural parts of the state. The ConnectME Authority administers a fund created by the legislature for that purpose, financed by a small surcharge on Maine customers’ phone bills.

Andrew Hinkley, general manager of Cornerstone, said in the prepared statement that the company’s Maine Highlands project, if funded, will bring high-speed Internet service to 25 communities in southern Piscataquis and western Penobscot counties – many of which have never had affordable high-speed access to the Internet before.

“We have already deployed our rural broadband Internet service in the towns of Charleston and Sebec, both of which had no high-speed service before,” Hinkley said. “This service has been field-tested and warmly received by our customers in those towns, and we are ready to extend the service throughout our region.”

Public input and support is required for any ConnectME grant application to be successful. Citizens in Cornerstone’s proposed service area who favor the broadband service can write a brief letter of support and mail it to Sheila Grant, Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, 50 Mayo St., Dover-Foxcroft 04426.

The proposed towns to be served are: Abbot, Atkinson, Barnard, Blanchard, Bowerbank, Bradford, Brownville, Charleston, Corinth, Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft, Elliotsville, Guilford, Hudson, LaGrange, Lake View Plantation, Milo, Monson, Orneville, Parkman, Sangerville, Sebec, T5 R9 NWP, Williamsburg, and Willimantic.

Cornerstone also has partnered with Monson in filing a separate grant application to bring DSL service to Monson and nearby Blanchard. The Monson application was prepared through the efforts of PCEDC staff.

Thirteen service providers or municipalities have applied for the initial round of ConnectME funding. In terms of the number of towns to be served, Cornerstone’s is the most ambitious plan submitted, Grant said. Of the 13 applications, the regionwide Cornerstone plan and the Monson plan are the only two affecting the Maine Highlands region.

Both the Monson application and Cornerstone’s regionwide application make use of a combination of technologies, according to Grant.

Under the plan, the majority of customers would be served with high-speed DSL service over telephone lines, from equipment Cornerstone will install alongside Verizon’s pole-mounted “remote terminal” cabinets used to bring telephone service to many rural areas in the Maine Highlands region.

At the same time, Cornerstone will install high-capacity digital radio systems, which will bring wireless broadband Internet access to a large number of homes that cannot be served by DSL.

Cornerstone Communications already serves parts of the towns of Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft, Charleston, and Sebec. This project will also include extending service to the more outlying areas of those communities.

For more information, call Hinkley at 285-7174 or Grant at 564-3638.