Wireless carrier Verizon has indicated it may not meet a previously estimated target of spring 2024 to upgrade its network in Harpswell by adding a transceiver to a nearly 200-foot-tall cell tower at George J. Mitchell Field.

The expected delay is frustrating news for residents who’ve been pressuring the New Jersey-based carrier for about 16 months to perform the upgrade. They say Verizon service is unreliable in many areas of Harpswell, including islands and surrounding waters, and that even the town’s emergency services have been negatively affected.

Previously, Verizon had said it planned to complete the upgrade by spring 2024, but a local resident involved in the pressure campaign said a Verizon representative updated him recently to say the earliest likely completion date is now “simply ‘2024.’”

“Verizon’s message to Harpswell … is quite disappointing,” said Bailey Island resident Dennis Wilkins in a Dec. 12 reply to the Verizon representative, Stephanie Lee. “It does not make us feel good. It makes us feel small and strung out by a big corporation.”

Without directly confirming the delay, Verizon spokesperson Chris Serico told the Harpswell Anchor in a Wednesday, Dec. 13, email that “time and patience” would be required to complete the work.

“As part of our significant investment in expanding our coverage in Maine and across the country, we work with each municipality to develop and engineer the best possible network given each local community’s needs,” Serico wrote. “While we’re excited to expand coverage in Harpswell, that implementation must follow safety protocols, logistics and approval processes.”

Serico did not respond to a follow-up email seeking a new target month or quarter for the upgrade to be finished.

Wilkins and Paul Kittle, of Orr’s Island, launched an effort in summer 2022 to pressure Verizon to add equipment to the wireless communications tower, built in 2021 by Blue Sky Towers LLC, of Massachusetts. Initially, AT&T had been the only wireless carrier with a deal to place its equipment on the independently owned tower, which can accommodate up to four carriers.

In order to pressure Verizon to join the tower, Kittle circulated a petition that was signed by more than 800 residents. Previously, the company had said it had no plans to add equipment to the tower, but it later reversed course as a result of the pressure from local residents and elected officials including the Harpswell Select Board and then-state Rep. Joyce “Jay” McCreight, D-Harpswell.

On Saturday, Dec. 16, Wilkins emailed McCreight’s replacement, state Rep. Cheryl Golek, D-Harpswell, and state Sen. Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, seeking their help to continue putting pressure on Verizon to perform the network upgrade.

“It is over a year since Verizon made Harpswell a ‘priority,’ and 16 months since our grassroots campaign began,” Wilkins wrote. “I am hoping that the two of you can intervene with Verizon toward the goal of improved cell service before a second busy summer season experiences corporate neglect.”

Samuel Baker, a senior legislative aide in the Maine Senate Majority Office, responded Monday, Dec. 18, via email, saying his office would follow through on Wilkins’ request.

“I will work on drafting a letter to send to Verizon today,” Baker wrote. “Thank you for all of your advocacy. This seems like an excellent example of a public-private partnership between the Town of Harpswell and Verizon — so long as the project keeps moving along.”

Blue Sky leased the site for the cell tower from the town and started construction in July 2021. The town had sought proposals to build a tower with the primary goal of addressing long-standing concerns about poor local cellular service.

In their Verizon pressure campaign, Kittle and Wilkins had stressed the impact of poor service on public safety, because bad connections for 911 calls and other communications can delay the response to an emergency.

Harpswell Town Administrator Kristi Eiane said she conferred with the cell tower’s owner on Friday, Dec. 15, and was able to confirm that the Verizon upgrade is still expected to happen sometime in 2024.

“Blue Sky is close to signing a lease with Verizon and expects Verizon to get the Harpswell site up in 2024,” Eiane said via email. “Blue Sky will share an estimated build start date with the Town as soon as that information is available.”

Have a comment or news tip? Email J. Craig Anderson at craig@harpswellanchor.org.