News Detail
Rural Nebraska still faces challenges in broadband service
1/29/2010 9:36:10 AM
By Robert Pore, The Grand Island Independent
Are the needs of Nebraska's biggest industry " agriculture " being met when it comes to broadband Internet connections?
That was one of a number of questions posed by a panel Thursday during a presentation at the Nebraska Agricultural Technologies Association Conference and Trade Show at the Midtown Holiday Inn in Grand Island.
What's at stake, according to the panel, is not only the ability to enhance the competitiveness of Nebraska's farmers and ranchers in a globally connected market but also having a key tool for rural revitalization.
On the panel for the broadband session were Sandy Scofield, director of the Nebraska Rural Initiative at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Tom Shoemaker, vice president for regulatory affairs and business development for Pinpoint Communications in Cambridge; Ben Pankonin, director of business development, Five Nines Technology Group; and Carol Farnham, owner of Signa Solutions.
Shoemaker estimated that 80 percent to 90 percent of Nebraska has access to broadband Internet.
"Compared to other states, we are ranked pretty high on broadband deployment," he said.
Shoemaker credits Nebraska telephone companies for helping to bring broadband Internet connections to rural Nebraska.
But the challenge ahead for Nebraska in making broadband Internet access available statewide is cost, he said.
"It is very expensive to do that," Shoemaker said.
In many areas of the state, the problem " similar to the challenges that came with bringing electricity to rural areas in the 1930s and 1940s " is the cost of building the infrastructure of broadband Internet access in less densely populated areas.
Shoemaker said federal stimulus funding and state funding are helping to meet that financial challenge. But that funding is just a drop in the bucket compared to the total cost necessary to bring broadband Internet to rural Nebraska.
As bringing rural electrification and telephone service to rural Nebraska was, broadband is an important next step in the process of improving the quality of life in rural Nebraska and providing the necessary tools for economic revitalization, he said.
"It's extremely important because it's going to end up being a lifeline-type service, as that is where more and more people are getting and reading their news and communicating with others," Shoemaker said.
With the continued outmigration of people from rural Nebraska, broadband Internet access will be an important tool in rural economic revitalization.
Also, through broadband Internet access, rural Nebraska can benefit from such essential services as telemedicine, health care services and education.
"Broadband is extremely important in that aspect," Shoemaker said. "It is a must-have for our young people in rural Nebraska to be able to stay home instead of going to bigger cities."
Scofield said having broadband Internet access boils down to "whether we are going to have people staying in rural communities and able to do business."
"We are probably in better shape than most states if you live in town," she said. "In Nebraska, the people who are really still behind the door are those folks who live outside the city limits. We are basically telling our biggest industry " agriculture " that you don't have to do this. But, yes, they do."
While it's easy to say Nebraska is in better shape than most other states when it comes to broadband Internet access, Scofield said, "The problem is that this technology keeps moving and the demand for speed keeps increasing. If you want to be competitive and you want to attract young people, you will have to have better speeds than what we have right now in most communities. Young people are simply not going to live in a place that doesn't have the latest and greatest in technologies."
While universal broadband access to all of Nebraska is not the only tool needed to revitalize rural Nebraska economically, Scofield said, "it's a fundamental piece that has to be in place."
"This is not a cheap thing to do, though," she said. "I'm thrilled that the federal government put stimulus money in there for what we need, but it doesn't begin to cover what this will cost to do this."
Back when the federal government began its rural electrification program in the 1930s, there were more people living in America's rural areas. But now the vast areas of rural Nebraska with low population densities have upped the cost in providing universal broadband Internet service.
The key to getting that broadband service to all of Nebraska is for rural citizens to advocate for that service to state and federal policy makers, Scofield said.
"It will be really important that rural people champion their needs and talk about their needs to make sure that the necessary infrastructure and emerging technologies are available to them," Scofield said.
