Tompkins County, New York, pivots to new rural broadband strategy, hoping for faster results

In the midst of budget season, the Tompkins County (NY) Legislature convened for its regular Tuesday night meeting on October 5, addressing a wide swath of topics. The largest decision made was the county’s pivot in its efforts to expand broadband internet to the rural reaches of the region. In 2020, the county commissioned a study by Southern Tier Network and Fujitsu IT Services to determine the true number of households without broadband service in the county. The numbers were far lower than they thought and the subsequent price to remedy the problem was significantly higher than previous ballpark estimates. The Legislature has made the decision to go in a different direction; there will now be a “driving” survey to determine internet need, going street-by-street where broadband end-points are known, which will be more detailed than the Fujitsu survey, which was using a Census bloc-based method favored by the Federal Communications Commission. The pivot was met with some backlash by legislators that favored the original survey. However, after some debate, the legislature decided to move forward with a resolution that called for the county to engage with local internet service providers about their willingness to expand into parts of the county where need is identified; that need will be determined by a more “granular,” driving, physical survey.