Broadband Access

Lawmakers were on hand Thursday for the unveiling of an online mapping project showing that 92 percent of households in the state have broadband access. Creating such a map is a prerequisite for phone and cable providers to qualify for a chunk of the $7.2 billion included in the federal stimulus package to help expand broadband access. The funds can be used to cover up to 80 percent of the cost of installing fiber optic cable and necessary equipment. One goal of the packages is universal broadband access. Still, many telecommunications companies have been reluctant to install cable in areas where few customers are likely to subscribe to faster and more expensive Internet service. The map, created by a telecom consortium called Connected Nation, includes data from 35 Internet service providers. It shows that faster Internet speeds are spotty in the state's western and eastern regions and along the state's northern rim.

Areas limited to slow dial-up connection speeds are seen as increasingly behind in competing for new businesses and in job creation. In some counties, fewer than half the households have access to high-speed Internet service. "One of the most frequent constituent complaints we get is that they do not have that access," said House Speaker Joe Hackney, D-Orange. The federal stimulus funds pay not only for expanding high-speed Internet access but also for upgrading broadband speeds in areas with basic speeds and few subscribers. (John Murawski, THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 7/10/09).