Operator Chosen To Run Mass. Fiber-Optic Network

A company with a track record of running rural broadband networks has been selected to manage a planned 1,300-mile, $72 million high-speed fiber-optic network in western and north-central Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Broadband Institute announced Monday that Axia NGNetworks USA, will also sell wholesale services to Internet service providers and monitor and upgrade the system.

Total investments are expected to be up to $45 million over the course of the 10-year contract.

Axia, based in Calgary, Alberta, was chosen in part on the basis of its success running the network in that Canadian province.

The Massachusetts Broadband Institute, an independent state entity, will own the network.

The "middle-mile" network will link hundreds of "anchors" in 123 Massachusetts communities and is expected to be completed in June 2013.