Broadband survey could help leverage grant funding

ESSEX | With a landslide of state and federal grant money about to be made available for broadband, Essex County wants to be sure it has projects at the ready in order to take advantage of the funds. As part of that effort, supervisors are encouraging residents to take a state-sponsored broadband survey that will help the county learn who has adequate internet access and who does not. This mapping is the technological equivalent of a "shovel-ready" infrastructure project which takes precedence when grant money becomes available. "We can't build something if we don't know where to build it," said Essex Supervisor Ken Hughes. The survey is available at empirestatebroadband.com. Along with plotting broadband availability, or lack of it, on a map, the survey also checks the user's internet speed and asks more broad questions about who uses broadband in each household and for what purposes. "I do think the mapping is critical, particularly for these grants," said Dave Wolf, telecommunications director for the Development Authority of the North Country, during a webinar sponsored by the Northern Forest Center advocacy group. "We're competing with people from all across the country, so the more information you have the better." Last fall, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration had planned to award $288 million in broadband grants, but the initiative was delayed after the agency was overwhelmed with 230 applicants requesting a total of $2.5 billion. Six North Country counties, assisted by the Lake Champlain-Lake George Regional Planning Board, hope to win a NTIA grant that with matching funds would create a $20 million project connecting 3,000 unserved or underserved homes. The application is still pending. In January, meanwhile, the Hochul administration announced $1 billion in funding for the state program ConnectALL's initiative to "deliver affordable broadband to millions of New Yorkers and transform the state's digital infrastructure through new investments." The Federal Communications Commission has been working on apportioning its own Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, a pool of $20.4 billion for broadband expansion. The first phase of the project was used for Census districts that were totally unserved, the second phase will be used for partially served rural Census districts. And as part of last year's federal infrastructure legislation, $65 billion will be awarded to states for buildout of broadband, as well as subsidies that would make that service affordable. "There are historic levels of state and local funding on the table for expansion of broadband, and those spigots are going to be opening in the coming months or years," said Mike Wilson, Senior Program Director for the Northern Forest Center. "The funds are going to go to places that are ready for it, and have developed plans" for the buildout. Lewis Supervisor Jim Monty said Essex County is making "gradual" progress on connecting pockets of unserved people, but that the process can be frustrating. Mapping — the process of knowing who has service and who doesn't — is difficult because the larger providers won't release their customer lists, considering them proprietary. Hughes said there remain "Bermuda Triangles" in his community and elsewhere that remain unserved, but the hope is with mapping and funding they can be sniffed out and connected. The North Country, through various groups and alliances, has done its homework and should be in good position for upcoming grants. "We've set the region up very, very well," he said. "Now we're waiting to hear how the funding will be funneled down to the communities."

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Broadband survey could help leverage grant funding

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