Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

October 12, 2017

GWI weighs options after court orders it to pay $406K fee

Great Works Internet’s attorney told the Associated Press he’ll be discussing with company officials the internet service provider's legal options following a court ruling requiring it to pay more $406,000 that was supposed to go to a broadband service group and the former Broadband Sustainability Fund.

In an article published in the Portland Press Herald, the AP reported that the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday that GWI had to pay the fee imposed on broadband service provided over fiber cables for the 1,100-mile Three Ring Binder fiber optic network that was completed in 2012 to extend broadband services to 110,000 households and 600 community anchor institutions throughout Maine.

The AP reported that the state and ConnectME Authority sued GWI’s corporate parent three years ago for failing to pay the fee. GWI contended the state unfairly singled out the project for a fee it characterized as an unconstitutional tax, but the court ruled it must pay the fee.

GWI’s parent corporation, Biddeford Internet Corp., received a $25.4 million federal grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to create the Three Ring Binder network. The project was completed ahead of schedule in the fall of 2012.

Sign up for Enews

Related Content

Comments

Order a PDF