Local towns have signed on to support a grant application by Comcast, in hopes of expanding broadband internet access to underserved areas of their towns, including Wilton and New Ipswich.

On Monday, Wilton unanimously agreed to support Comcast’s application to the Broadband Matching Grants Initiative, administered through the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs.

“If there could be some money coming to our infrastructure, why we wouldn’t take advantage of it. I don’t think there’s any reason we shouldn’t,” said Wilton Selectman D.J. Garcia.

The grant offers a total of $25 million in matching grants to internet service providers and municipalities to expand broadband internet infrastructure to unserved areas.

Under the state’s rules, any area with an internet connection that provides less than 25 Mbps of download speed and 3 Mbps of upload speed is considered unserved, and a speed less than 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps of upload speed is considered underserved. The grant program will proved a match of up to 75% of eligible project costs.

New Ipswich also has signed in support of Comcast’s grant application, in a unanimous vote on October 3.

Lyndeborough also could benefit from the grant, but rather than paying for an expansion in the future, the town could be reimbursed for an expansion completed by Comcast last year.

The project expanded broadband to the areas of Northern Lyndeborough’s 487 telephone exchange, a total of 68 homes, according to Town Administrator Russ Boland. The build-out covered the last properties in town that didn’t have access to high-speed internet. The expansion was a public-private partnership between Lyndeborough and Comcast, with Lyndeborough providing $100,000 in funding toward the build-out.

Should Comcast receive the matching grant from the state, Lyndeborough stands to recoup $75,000 in reimbursement. Boland said at the time of the build-out, Lyndeborough and Comcast were aware the grant was being formulated, and made their intentions known that they would be applying for the grant.

Boland said the Lyndeborough Select Board intended to discuss signing a document of support for Comcast during its meeting on Wednesday.

Applications for the matching grant are due on Oct. 20, and any approved projects must be completed by Dec. 31, 2026.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.