Um, scratch that.
Those hoping for competitive internet, television and telephone services in Haverhill may have to wait a bit longer. While Canadian-based Breezeline had been wiring the northern part of Haverhill since last August, the company notified the city it is cancelling the buildout.
Mayor Melinda E. Barrett told WHAV Monday that while the company had a contractor on Concord Street last week, workers may well have been taking pieces down rather than putting cable up. The mayor said she is “very disappointed” and will try to coax the company back to at least provide internet service.
“I’m still hopeful we can get them to do at least high-speed internet because I think they’ll make money,” she said. “I think that’s what the Haverhill person of tomorrow is going to want. We all want super cable, but we also want the streaming services the internet provides.”
Barrett said she was told Breezeline wasn’t signing as many customers as they expected. However, she pointed out, the company refused the city’s offer to spread the word since company officials feared a deluge of inquiries. Residents on adjacent streets said the company never reached out to sell services.
“You didn’t get customers because you didn’t tell anybody you were there,” Barrett said. “For their sakes, I think it would make sense to just build out that northern spike in Haverhill. They could get a lot of business.”
Breezeline Director of Government Affairs J. Francis Bradley notified the city last month that it planned to terminate its 2022 cable television license agreement with the city as well as similar agreements in Merrimac and Amesbury.
The mayor said she understood last week’s activities by Eustis Cable Enterprises on behalf of Breezeline were to remove a wire at the request of National Grid. At the time, the contractors declined WHAV’s request to detail the work taking place
The company did not immediately reply to WHAV’s inquiries Monday.