State to receive $144M in push for high-speed internet

The Connecticut Mirror

Connecticut is set to receive more than $144 million in federal funding to help expand the state’s broadband networks and to ensure, for the first time, that every home and business in the state has access to a reliable, high-speed internet connection.

The federal grant is part of a larger $42.45 billion nationwide program that was funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Congress passed in November 2021.

President Joe Biden held a press briefing on June 26 to announce the rollout of the new connectivity program, and he promised that the massive spending program would ensure every person in America has the ability to subscribe to reliable highspeed internet service by 2030.

This isn’t the first time the federal government has made significant investments in expanding internet service throughout the country, but federal and state officials argued this week that access to the internet has become even more vital following the coronavirus pandemic, which made a high-speed connection necessary for work, school and health care.

“High-speed internet isn’ta luxury anymore. It’s become an absolute necessity,” Biden said at a White House press conference.

Federal officials decided how much each state would receive from the new funding stream, which is formally known as the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, based on an analysis of how many residents currently lack access to the internet and what it will cost to increase the number of physical connections.

Connecticut is relatively well-off compared to other parts of the country when it comes to the number of residents with high-speed internet access. But federal data and state reports show there are still pockets in the state where households are either unserved or underserved, meaning the internet plans that are available are not considered adequate.

According to a press release from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, an estimated 11,693 homes and small businesses in Connecticut lack access to a high-speed internet connection.

Connecticut’s 2022 Broadband Report found that most of those homes and businesses are concentrated in roughly nine towns in the

Northwest Corner and in rural areas in the eastern half of the state.

The map shows the percent of locations within census blocks that have internet services of less than 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. Red areas indicate more than 50% of the block is unserved. Dark blue means less than 2.5% of the block is unserved. broadbandmaps.ct.gov / Office of Policy and Management

According to the federal guidelines for the new program, a location is considered to be “underserved” if the existing connection is unable to provide download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and upload speeds of at least 20 megabits per second.

A household is also considered “unserved” if it can’t gain access to download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second and upload speeds of at least 3 megabits per second.

And

The Berlin 11U All-Star softball team bested Simsbury 16-1 on June 29 and returns to action this Friday. The locals will host Bristol at Centurelli Field. The Citizen welcomes submissions from the community. Send photos and other items to news@theberlincitizen.com.