A grassroots campaign that began in 2022 to pressure wireless carrier Verizon to upgrade its coverage in Harpswell has finally paid off, according to one of the campaign’s organizers.
Bailey Island resident Dennis Wilkins emailed local officials and media on Friday, Dec. 20, to let them know Verizon had turned on its new equipment atop a wireless communications tower at the town-owned George J. Mitchell Field.
“The testing of the new equipment is complete and, as of yesterday afternoon, there is full activation,” Wilkins said, citing an email exchange with a Verizon executive. “My cell phone on Bailey (Island) has gone from 0-1 to 2-3 bars.”
Verizon spokesperson Ilya Hemlin confirmed the upgrade’s completion in an email.
Wilkins and Paul Kittle, of Orr’s Island, launched an effort in summer 2022 to pressure Verizon to add equipment to the nearly 200-foot-tall 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.
Verizon initially set an estimated target of spring 2024 to upgrade its network in Harpswell by adding a transceiver to the Mitchell Field tower. However, the company later pushed back its estimate to the end of 2024, citing a need to “follow safety protocols, logistics and approval processes.”
The delay was frustrating news for residents pressuring the New Jersey-based carrier to perform the upgrade. They said Verizon service was unreliable in many areas of Harpswell, including islands and surrounding waters, and that even the town’s emergency services had been negatively affected.
In his Dec. 20 email, Wilkins expressed mixed feelings about the long-delayed but ultimately successful outcome of the grassroots campaign.
“I was about to say that Verizon had given us a holiday gift,” he said, “but after years of paying for a service which went undelivered, I have come to consider this ‘gift’ a partial repayment of a debt owed.”
