Maine Fiber Company, Inc., a company set up to take advantage of federal stimulus funds that could be used to bring a high-speed internet network to Western, Northern and Downeast Maine, has completed its pilot project, according to an announcement by the company. Maine Fiber will now work to complete its 1,100 mile broadband network, billed the "Three Ring Binder" over the next 24 months.

“Maine’s leaders came together because they saw the potential for a best in the nation high-speed Internet network to connect rural Maine to economic opportunity,” Maine Fiber Company, Inc. CEO Dwight Allison.

The project is financed by a $25.4 million federal grant and roughly $7 million in private investments. The financing came together thanks to the combined efforts of Governor John Baldacci, Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Representatives Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree, the University of Maine’s Jeff Letourneau and leaders from the Maine State Legislature and the rural business community.