By Tom Ayres , Senior Staff Writer
The non-profit Vermont ISP Operating Company (VISPO) will take over operation of the ECFiber internet service provider (ISP) on Jan. 1.
ECFiber is the trade name for the East Central Vermont Telecommunications District (ECVTD), Vermont’s longest-standing communications union district. The ISP provides fiber-optic internet service to more than 30 communities in central and southeastern Vermont, including Barnard, Hartford, Pomfret, Reading, West Windsor, Windsor, and Woodstock.
A Maine-based company, Great Works Internet (GWI), took over operation of the ECFiber network from ValleyNet in 2022, under a contract that is scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2025. When contract renewal negotiations between ECFiber/ECVTD and GWI officials faltered early this year, ECFiber officials opted to form VISPO as a new, non-profit operating entity for the fiber-optic network. GWI responded by filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Rutland in March, alleging that ECFiber officials were attempting to “poach” its employees to work for the newly founded VISPO, in some instances, allegedly in violation of non-competition agreements that precluded most of the Maine-based firm’s Vermont employees from accepting positions with VISPO or any other ISP competitor in the state.
The legal wrangling between ECFiber and GWI officials continues before U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Lanthier in Rutland. However, the outcomes of two different appeals processes now in Lanthier’s hands for rulings will have no bearing on the transfer of management and operating responsibilities for the regional ISP network on January 1. GWI never sought injunctive relief to prevent the management transfer from occurring but rather asked the federal court to rule on allegations that ECFiber attempted to steal contracted employees and their expertise from the Biddeford, Me.-based ISP, despite the alleged non-compete clauses in many contracts and without due compensation.
F.X. Flinn of Quechee, the chair of the ECFiber Board of Directors, confirmed Friday that “everything is on track” for the ISP to take over the management and operations role from GWI on New Year’s Day. “They have done everything in their power to force an outcome where they would continue as [the ECFiber operator] after the end of this year — and it’s not going to happen.”
Gopi Sundaram, a telecommunications industry veteran who helped build out Ireland’s fiber-optic network, was named the chief operating officer of VISPO in late June. Sanduram, a graduate of Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, has had a long career in the ISP industry, according to a statement released by ECFiber. He was the managing director of the Tetrad McCourt consortium, the investor group that led the Irish national broadband initiative. Sundaram has also been a managing partner at Radius Capital Partners, a firm that specializes in rural broadband investments.
The longtime telecommunications specialist will lead ECFiber through the management transition process, which Flinn promised would have “little to no impact” on fiber-optic internet subscribers in the region.
