Rural Broadband A Priority For Commissioners, The County Asks Community For Help

By Gordon HopkinsJefferson County Commissioners are making improved broadband coverage for those areas underserved a priority, and they are asking the community for help. Last year, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts testified in front of the Nebraska Legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee about the need for expanded broadband access in rural Nebraska at a public hearing on Monday, February 8, 2021. Ricketts said, “Broadband is infrastructure that we need to make sure that we are also being ranked very highly on to be able to allow our state to grow.”In the hearing, Ricketts described the need for broadband as comparable to the need in rural areas for roads or electricity. He estimated the new program could provide broadband service to approximately 30,000 residents. Representatives of the Southeast Nebraska Development District (SENDD) spoke at a meeting of Jefferson County Commissioners on February 8 to discuss expanding broadband in Jefferson County.SENDD executive Director Tom Bliss explained the value of broadband, “Remote work is a total game changer for rural counties. It’s property tax revenue, it’s income tax revenue, it’s sales tax revenue, without having to attract businesses and create jobs in counties where it might not be feasible at this point in time. You can still extract all the benefits of that employment without having to, you know, jump through all the hoops of getting businesses in town. Those will come later. Get the people here now. Get them connected to internet. Get the revenue.” FundingMany rural areas in particular are unserved or underserved by broadband providers, because a scarcity of customers makes the cost economically unattractive. Therefore, funding will be a major factor.The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), also known as the COVID-19 Stimulus Package is a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill signed into law by on March 11, 2021, to speed up the country’s recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing recession.The need for high-speed internet became more pronounced when the country was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The result was more people than ever telecommuting. Students, also, attended classes from home for much of the school year. When preparing classes for remote learning, several members of the Fairbury Public School Board worried about those students who did not have access to reliable internet service.As a result, ARPA funds have been approved for broadband expansion.“Jefferson County has about $1.3 million, a little bit more than that. That is comparable to some other counties in the region,” said Bliss. “And we’ve seen a lot of success across the state with counties that have been looking at using ARPA to supplement efforts to expand broadband. And that is one of the eligible uses of it.”Bliss added, “So that’s the big pot of money. That’s the one you guys have the most direct control over. That’s how you can really shape the course of broadband expansion in Jefferson County. But there are a couple other funds out there. You know, there’s obviously the infrastructure bill coming down, about $42 million in broadband grants from that. That’s probably going to be until 2023 before they get those up and running.” How the Community Can HelpSo what are the next steps?Bliss said, “Well, I would say, figure out first how much you’re going to allocate toward broadband. Because that will really shape what you’re able to do in the next steps. After that, I would say identify what you believe some of the biggest problem areas are, that really might not get service otherwise.”Bliss recommended establishing a Broadband Action Team (BAT), which is a collaboration of community stakeholders in the community focused on identifying the need for broadband expansion, particularly identifying gaps in service, and raising the awareness of the need in the community. Stakeholders would include the Commissioners, residents, schools, businesses, farmers, internet service providers (ISP) and local economic development groups.Commissioners are now looking into creating a BAT. Speeds TestsAccording to SENDD’s presentation, “FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and IPS data is flawed and rarely reflects actual user experiences. Conducting speed tests can help correct the record.”Therefore, Commissioners asked members of the community to conduct speed tests by going to sendd.org/broadbrand. This test should be taken from home and can be taken once or many times. According to SENDD, this tests collects location data by GPS coordinates but discards addresses, so personal information is not retained.

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