Excerpt from newportri.com
The city will team up with Middletown and Portsmouth to put together an application to the state for broadband infrastructure funding.
“We’ll be presenting to the City Council pretty soon a recommendation to hire a consultant to assist us with middle-mile issues,” said City Manager Joseph J. Nicholson Jr. “Parallel to that is the state’s completion of a mapping plan for broadband.”
Middle-mile networks are the connections from national and major regional internet backbones to local broadband networks. Nicholson was discussing a possible multi-million dollar investment in Aquidneck Island’s broadband network during a City Council workshop held Saturday morning.
Present for the discussion were state senators Dawn Euer and Lou DiPalma and state representatives Marvin Abney (D-Newport, Middletown) and Lauren Carson (D-Newport). They discussed a series of projects the city could be undertaking in the coming years.

Island Innovation is a social enterprise and digital media company at the intersection of sustainable development and communications, offering specialised services across various sectors. We bring together the private sector, government, utilities, NGOs and universities to advance innovation for sustainability and prosperity in islands worldwide.