Open Cape Corporation

About

The OpenCape concept addresses the need for a regional communications system to enhance education, research, and economic development, and provide for a reliable and redundant public safety communications network. The non-profit 501(c)(3) OpenCape Corporation was formed to conduct analysis, develop plans, and engineer solutions. Approximately $250,000 in seed funding was obtained to support the efforts of a regionally representative Board of Directors that committed a great deal of time and energy toward devising a solution for the region. The OpenCape Corporation is collaborating with regional, state, and federal entities to ensure a comprehensive and coherent solution is delivered that will serve the telecommunications needs of the 500,000 citizens and 62,000 businesses of its proposed service area for the next 50 years.

The OpenCape concept is widely supported throughout the region and the state. One hundred percent of the towns and school districts on Cape Cod and the Islands have submitted letters of support for the effort. Seed funding was provided by Barnstable County, the John Adams Innovation Institute, the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Cape Cod Community College. The Cape legislative delegation successfully increased the Broadband Bill Incentive Fund to $40 million within the Massachusetts legislature to create a resource for construction of the network. The federal legislative delegation has provided letters of support, as well as essential liaison with federal agencies.