CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — More and more residents of Buffalo and Cheektowaga are getting a second option for high-speed internet. Greenlight Networks CEO Mark Murphy says that between the two communities, about 5,000 homes are connected to their service.
"We think we're going to be at about 15,000 by year-end, between Cheektowaga and in the city of Buffalo," Murphy said.
The company had been criticized by residents in buffalo and by common council member Joel Feroleto regarding the deployment of service in Buffalo. Particularly, the issue of easement agreements between the company and city residents.
Murray says those issues are getting easier to resolve with more and more Greenlight trucks working in neighborhoods and installing service.
"I think the team is more visible in the area and I think as people start getting the service and start talking about what a difference it is, from what they may be getting from their current providers," Murphy said.
Cheektowaga Town Supervisor Diane Benczkowski is excited about the expansion into the town and the opportunity it is for residents.
"The residents have been wanting another option for Internet services for a very long time," Benczkowski said. "Now with so many people even working from home, they want to be able to have faster speeds and very competitive pricing."
As for beyond Buffalo and Cheektowaga, WGRZ asked Murphy about Erienet. The county plans to build a 400-mile middle mile network, which is estimated to cost $36M to construct. It would allow providers like Greenlight to tap into it and bring connections to homes. Murphy didn't have any concrete news about the company partnering with the county, but didn't rule it out either.
'It's not something we would participate in early from an actual construction perspective," Murphy said, referencing the actual construction of the network. "I suspect as their plans continue to finalize, we'll continue to see how we might be able to partner together to get us out to some of the areas that we might be interested in getting to."
Murphy said the plan is to connect another 25,000 homes in Buffalo and Cheektowaga in 2023.