Six Adirondack-area counties join in broadband initiative

NORTHEASTERN NY | Representatives of six counties in the Adirondack region are collaborating in an effort to secure a federal grant to provide high-speed broadband access for nearly 3,000 households, businesses and institutions. Warren, Essex, Clinton, Hamilton, Franklin and Washington counties are applying to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for money to help fund the North Country Broadband Deployment Program. This initiative's objective is to obtain broadband access where it's now lacking, and to establish more reliable and higher-speed connectivity where existing service is inadequate. Four participating broadband providers — SLIC Network Solutions, Charter/Spectrum, Champlain Technology Group, and Hudson Valley Wireless — have joined the counties in pledging to pay for at least 10% of the project's cost. Officials of these entities envision that such a financial commitment will increase the chances for funding in a highly competitive nationwide review process, Town of Johnsburg Supervisor Andrea Hogan said. Hogan is chairman of the Warren County Board of Supervisors' Economic Growth and Development Committee. "Warren County is proud to join in this regional effort to address a critically important, shared challenge," Hogan said, crediting Town of Morehouse Supervisor Bill Farber for "leading the charge" on broadband access for many years. Farber, who serves as chairman of the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors, said that "inadequate technology infrastructure" is likely the greatest challenge facing the region. "The digital divide jeopardizes public health and safety, greatly impedes economic growth, and restricts the quality of life for residents and visitors," he said. Farber added that the pandemic has demonstrated the extent of the impact of insufficient broadband access. The grant application cites that 30% of the telehealth sessions in the region failed during the early days of the pandemic because of inadequate broadband and cellular service, according to research conducted by the Adirondack Health Institute. In addition, the application describes how during the pandemic, students had to go to parking lots of libraries and other public buildings to download classroom assignments — and how teachers had to send homework packets via U.S. mail to students' homes. Also, the application notes how poor broadband service has hindered people's ability to work remotely, and how many businesses in the region have struggled to meet their online customers' needs. The broadband deployment program seeks to provide broadband with a minimum download speed of 15 megabits per second throughout the six-county region. Hogan praised Warren County Planner Sara Frankenfeld and Beth Gilles of the Lake Champlain-Lake George Regional Planning Board for their work drafting the grant application. Also, she said that state government should remove existing obstacles to cost-effective rural broadband buildout. She said that taxing broadband providers for running service lines along state roads, and charging them costly utility pole usage fees, hinder the state's own goal of extending broadband throughout rural New York. "New York State has made it difficult for small broadband service providers to extend access, and these enterprises are the ones who are really bringing vital changes to our communities," she said. Hogan noted that the idea of a multi-county application grew out of the monthly broadband videoconferences moderated by Dave Wolf, Technology Division Manager for the state's Development Authority of the North Country.

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Six Adirondack-area counties join in broadband initiative

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