A legal battle over the operating contract for the ECFiber internet service provider (ISP) network — the state’s oldest communication union district — has been playing itself out in the U.S. District Court in Burlington since March 25, when the Vermont-based ISP’s current operator, the Maine-based Biddeford Internet Corp, also known as Great Works Internet (GWI), filed suit against F.X. Flinn of Quechee, the chair of ECFiber’s governing board, accusing Flinn of trying to “poach” GWI’s business in the more than 30 municipalities it serves.
On Monday, the contentious public set-to between ECFiber, its proposed new operating entity, the recently founded, non-profit Vermont ISP Operating Company (VISPO), Flinn, and GWI took another turn when GWI, which is contracted to operate the regional ISP network in Vermont until Dec. 31, 2025, sent an open letter outlining its allegations against Flinn and ECFiber’s governors to each of the selectboards in the municipalities served by ECFiber.
In the most recent action before the U.S. District Court for the Vermont District, the East Central Vermont Telecommunications District (ECVTD), of which ECFiber is the trade name, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on June 20, ordering GWI to abide by a transition policy enacted by the ECFiber governing board that spells out how a transition from one ISP operator to another is supposed to unfold. The ECTVD motion, filed by attorneys Ryan M. Long and William W. Strehloh of the Primmer, Piper, Eggleston & Cramer law firm in Burlington, also calls on GWI to provide ready access to the ECFiber communications plant infrastructure and all of its components, and asks the court to order that the Maine-based plaintiffs “cease further efforts to frustrate the transition” to VISPO as the regional ISP’s new operating entity at the end of this year.
Flinn spoke with the Standard this week regarding the hoped-for transition from GWI to VISPO for its operating contract for the ISP. ECFiber provides high-speed fiber internet service to 31 communities in east-central Vermont, including local towns Barnard, Hartford, Pomfret, Reading, West Windsor, and Woodstock. Flinn provided background information on the legal conflict with GWI and then directed inquiries to a frequently asked questions (FAQ) page on both the ECVTD and ECFiber websites for detailed information.
For more on this, please see our July 17 edition of the Vermont Standard.
