Mary Sell
Going the last (and middle) mile: Time and money are required to get statewide broadband access
Alabama Senate Majority Leader Clay Scofield (R-AL) says he gets asked by Alabamians about one topic more than most: High-speed internet and when they’ll have access to it. Alabama's goal is that new publicly funded projects have speeds of 100 megabits per second for downloads and 100 megabits per second for uploads. Getting that statewide will cost billions. In late August 2022, officials announced $26.6 million in Alabama Broadband Accessibility Fund grants to extend broadband internet access to about 15,000 homes, businesses and entities, including schools, in 10 counties.