Kansas broadband developers complain to Senate about allocation of state, federal grants

A major broadband provider and a coalition of smaller developers complained about lack of transparency at the Kansas Department of Commerce in awarding millions of dollars in state and federal funding to upgrade internet service in underserved areas of the state. Concerns about the Department of Commerce’s grant-making process were shared with the Kansas Senate’s budget committee by a Cox Communications lobbyist and the executive director of Communications Coalition of Kansas, which represents locally owned rural internet companies and cooperatives. Megan Bottenberg, a lobbyist with Cox Communications, said the company extended its services during the past five years from 92 communities to 119 communities largely through private investment. Cox received a grant to bring broadband to 1,300 homes in Shawnee and Jackson counties on the wrong side of the digital divide, but the company was unsuccessful with 67 other grant proposals. Bottenberg said in some cases Cox had a better cost-per-location rate than companies that won the funding.