{"id":69,"date":"2020-08-19T14:02:11","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T14:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/?p=69"},"modified":"2020-10-13T21:11:59","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T21:11:59","slug":"improving-community-connections-with-broadband","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/2020\/08\/19\/improving-community-connections-with-broadband\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving Community Connections with Broadband"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recapping the CSG West Virtual Annual Meeting<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Joel Sams, The Council of State Governments<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the virtual annual meeting of The Council of State Governments West in July, Western state leaders explored the impacts of broadband access on rural communities and shared related experiences. Topics included the role of public-private partnerships and a recent Federal Communications Commission measure set to provide billions of dollars in subsidies to increase broadband access in rural areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-facilitated by Wyoming state Sen. Chris Rothfuss and Wyoming state Rep. Albert Sommers, the discussion considered wide-ranging implications of rural broadband, including access to technological developments in areas like healthcare, public safety and education. A panel conversation included perspective from Brian Worthen (Visionary Broadband), Barbara Sessions (Silver Star) and Joanne Hovis (CTC Technology & Energy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow more than ever, broadband has become a key issue for lawmakers throughout the country,\u201d Rothfuss said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue has special salience for Western leaders, however. Sommers noted that in March 2020, Broadband Now ranked Wyoming 46th<\/sup> in the U.S. for internet coverage, speed and price access. Four other Western states \u2014 Alaska, New Mexico, Nebraska and Montana \u2014 joined Wyoming in the bottom 10 of the ranking. According to Sommers, the challenge of rural broadband access is due primarily to the low return on investment providers see in rural areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cI do believe we are making progress, but the speeds associated with the definition of unserved must quickly move upward to ensure rural America is running at gigabit speeds,\u201d Sommers said. \u201cWe know now, more than ever, how essential internet service is. Rural America must not be left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worthen pointed out the wide variety that exists among telecommunication companies and suggested that some will be more willing to operate in rural areas than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe question really is, \u2018How do you get private telecoms to come in?\u2019\u201d Worthen said. \u201cIdentify which private telecoms are wanting to do the work. Because it\u2019s hard. I\u2019m in Durango, Col., and Bayfield and Pagosa, and it\u2019s some of the hardest terrain you\u2019ve ever seen. [\u2026] What types of companies are going to help us? It\u2019s the type of companies that are willing to roll up their sleeves and go into an area where they might not have a return on investment in 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sessions advocated updating FCC internet speed requirements to encourage investment where it\u2019s needed most, as well as updating planning and zoning requirements in new communities to include conduits for future broadband infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the FCC is requiring a minimum of 25\/3 [megabits per second], that\u2019s probably what you\u2019re going to get,\u201d Sessions said. \u201cWe need to be proactive about what it is that we want our cities to look like in five or 10 years. We know 25\/3 is already antiquated. We\u2019ve been having that conversation as a state in Wyoming, it\u2019s happening in Idaho \u2014 we have to start having those conversations and putting pressure on the FCC and others to really change those minimum requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Hovis, solving rural broadband access will require coordinated action and investment in fiber optic infrastructure that will stand the test of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need a true federal partner to comprehensively solve the rural challenge,\u201d Hovis said. \u201cLike every other area of rural infrastructure, the economics do not exist to do this purely through private investment. [\u2026] As we did with phone service, as we did with rural electrification, we as a nation are going to have to decide that we are going to deliver parity to all Americans in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recapping the CSG West Virtual Annual Meeting By Joel Sams, The Council of State Governments During the virtual annual meeting of The Council of State Governments West in July, Western state leaders explored the impacts of broadband access on rural communities and shared related experiences. Topics included the role of public-private partnerships and a recent… Read More »Improving Community Connections with Broadband<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":71,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[42,43,45,47,48,44,46],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-csg-west","category-policy","tag-broadband","tag-community","tag-connectivity","tag-internet","tag-internet-speeds","tag-rural-broadband","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.csg.org\/tcs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}