ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Greenlight Networks and the City of Rochester have signed a Master License Agreement that accelerates Greenlight Network expansion to residents in the City of Rochester.

The agreement outlines the fee structure and application process for Greenlight to obtain rights-of-way permits for its underground and aerial facilities within the city. With this agreement in place, Greenlight can now move forward with construction plans in more city neighborhoods.

With construction underway, Greenlight plans to reach an additional 1,200 households by the end of the year, with thousands more city households planned to come online in 2021.

“I know I speak for a lot of people when I say we’re excited to see Greenlight expanding in the city of Rochester. It has been a true success story, a Rochester company that has been gaining national attention,” Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren said.

“Greenlight will help us bridge the digital divide in our low income neighborhoods. This COVID-19 pandemic is showing us that every student and family in our community needs access to internet services and I’m happy to say Greenlight helped us reach that goal.”

Warren said the partnership will target the low income neighborhoods and work to provide internet to all. Greenlight President and CEO Mark Murphy said the company has partnered with companies who build affordable housing and will work with them on getting interest in the areas.

“No question that we’ve all been living virtually and I think now people really see the value of having reliable very high speed service in their home,” Murphy said. “What it still comes down to is finding areas where we can get the most interest and so that’s going to be a big part of our work with City Hall is how we can get more engagement in the community.’

Greenlight’s fiber optic Internet network currently reaches approximately 11,000 city households. The company expects to restart construction in the Park Avenue and Harper Street area this summer with plans to continue its network build-out in the Greenlight Districts covering the Cobbs Hill Drive and Beckwith Terrace areas.

The agreement must be approved by City Council, but the City can issue conditional permits as the legislation moves forward.

This is the first Master License Agreement reached with a residential Internet Service Provider since the City adopted its Telecommunications Code last year. The Code seeks to facilitate the expansion of telecommunications infrastructure across the city while preserving existing infrastructure, such as roadways.