WATERVILLE, Maine – Governor Janet Mills, together with state and federal officers, are anticipated to announce a $5 million prize that can be used for high-speed web entry all through Maine.
Mills, Maine Connectivity Authority and Nationwide Telecommunications and Data Administration officers are anticipated to make the announcement at 11 a.m. Thursday at Thomas Faculty in Waterville.
Maine has lengthy struggled with dependable web entry, particularly in its rural communities. The COVID-19 pandemic has additional underscored the necessity for reasonably priced broadband when on-line schooling, distant working and telehealth classes have grow to be important. Many households stay with out broadband regardless of state efforts to deal with the issue.
The $5 million is simply a part of the roughly $250 million the federal authorities will doubtless give Maine for broadband, in line with Maine Connectivity Authority officers.
The $5 million prize, which is able to undergo the Connectivity Authority, kicks off the method of making a Broadband Motion Plan that can dictate how the whole funds can be spent over the following 5 years, stated Brian Allenby, spokesman for the Connectivity Authority.
For instance, the funds may very well be used to develop networks or create new ones, he stated. The Connectivity Authority can be targeted on digital fairness and offering individuals with the gadgets and abilities they should reap the benefits of companies.
“Machine loaner packages may very well be one thing we’re exploring,” he stated. “The place are the digital hubs that may assist individuals develop digital literacy abilities?”
It is uncommon for federal officers to journey to Maine for such an announcement, Allenby stated, and it’ll give stakeholders at totally different ranges an opportunity to weigh in on the way forward for broadband within the state.
The tens of millions of {dollars} come from the federal authorities’s BEAD program — or Broadband Fairness, Entry and Deployment — which was created and funded by the bipartisan Infrastructure Act. It offers billions of {dollars} to states to develop high-speed web entry.
Established in 2021, the Connectivity Authority is liable for attaining common entry to reasonably priced, high-speed broadband in Maine. By this course of, he’ll spend months designing a plan that can be submitted to the federal authorities in the summertime.
The method consists of information assortment and analysis that identifies unserved and underserved areas, surveys in these communities to higher perceive obstacles, communications help and extra, in line with data from the workplace of U.S. Senator Susan Collins. , who stated web entry is crucial for vitality. rural communities.
Additionally at Thursday’s assembly, officers will acknowledge regional and tribal organizations receiving 26 awards totaling $4 million. The funds are meant to help community-driven broadband options that enhance the variety of companions who take into consideration digital fairness and assist communities higher align with one another and the state, in line with the connectivity authority.
Alongside Mills, Andrew Butcher, chairman of the Maine Connectivity Authority, and Alan Davidson, assistant secretary of commerce for communications and knowledge and NTIA administrator, will communicate at Thursday’s occasion.
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