Bangor Daily News

A group of Waldo County (ME) residents is working to create an affordable broadband utility that every resident in Searsmont and four other towns should be able to access. The task force has been collecting data from residents and mapping the community's level of current Internet service, which members believe is low. To address this problem, Searsmont and the neighboring communities of Liberty, Palermo, Montville and Freedom have formed the Southwest Waldo County Broadband Coalition, which has a long-term plan of creating a municipally-owned public broadband utility.

The digital divide leaves millions without access to high-speed broadband and the immense opportunities it provides. I’m proud to say that we have secured a historic broadband investment in the American Rescue Plan. First, $10 billion for broadband deployment and infrastructure, digital inclusion and other efforts to close the digital divide. These funds represent one of the most important broadband investments ever made in the history of the United States.

Increased remote work and schooling and aging or sparse internet connections are affecting rural Maine. Video calls drop or freeze. Family members find only one person at a time can use streaming applications. Mainers returning to the state to work and live are finding it a challenge with the slower internet. Faster and more reliable technologies might not be available in certain areas or are not affordable. Those stories also are resonating with lawmakers, who are increasingly hearing how internet limitations are holding back Maine’s ability to grow its economy and workforce.

The town of Bar Harbor, Maine, is planning a $750,000 project to connect fiber optic cable to town-owned properties so its staff can have broadband internet access at work. The town has such access now but will have to start paying $45,000 a year to Charter Communications to continue using the company’s fiber network infrastructure because of an expiring agreement that has allowed the town to use the fiber at no cost beyond what it pays its internet service providers. The town pays currently approximately $4,500 per year for internet access.

Maine Sens Angus King (I-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) said they’ll support new legislation to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s vote to scuttle Obama-era network neutrality standards.  Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) announced recently that he has enough support to force a Senate vote to invalidate the FCC’s controversial Dec. 14 decision.

Islesboro (ME) -- The offshore island community with just 600 or so year-round residents is trying to build an economic bridge to its future with technology, as Islesboro (ME) residents voted overwhelmingly to create a $3.8 million municipal broadband network. The new network, which would use an underwater cable that was run to the island in 2015 by Central Maine Power Co., will connect Islesboro to the statewide Three Ring Binder fiber-optic network. Vern Ziegler, the Islesboro town assessor and a member of the island’s broadband working group, said he hopes the new network will be operational sometime within the next 12 to 24 months. “Our project has been driven from the ground up by the people here on Islesboro,” he said. “I think the town is very excited about being able to move forward. The people have basically said, ‘this is what we want.’ … It’s nice when the municipal government can respond to the people’s wishes.”

Residents who attended the annual town meeting on June 18 voted 145 to 23 to authorize the $3.8 million bond to design and construct the network. "Hundreds and hundreds of hours of education, meetings and public hearings have gone into the project,” he said. “I believe that when the people got to the vote at town meeting, we weren’t going to sway anybody’s mind one way or another. People were either for or against it.” In the end, it wasn’t even close, despite the high cost of the project, which will be funded in part through subscriber fees to the network and in part through a property tax increase. For the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the tax increase for the broadband network will be just 6 cents per $1,000 worth of property valuation.

Maine’s Internet service has consistently ranked among the worst in the country: Recent rankings place Maine at 49 out of 50.

Inadequate access not only hurts the quality of recreational Internet use but also affects schools and businesses, adding to the perception that Maine is a bad place for business.

But municipalities like Orono and Old Town wager tackling the challenge will bring long-term economic gains. Many in information technology see efforts by local governments and municipalities as key to improving access to the Internet and the economic gains it brings with it. Improving the quality of the Internet here may, in fact, be the best route to a bright future for Maine.