Uncertain Times Fueling a Shift in State Broadband Efforts

Just as COVID-19 has made the Internet a necessity for the vast majority of Americans, it has impacted the short- and long-term plans of state broadband initiatives: 

• The Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) and KCST, the operator of Massachusetts’ 1,200 middle-mile network, launched a new Wi-Fi hot spot program in late April. The program is setting up free Wi-Fi hot spots at public institutions — libraries, police stations, and so on — within 23 unserved communities. The program is intended to help citizens who don’t have fast Internet in their homes right now, but the state wants to measure the demand for the hot spots and see what it can learn for the future.
• Teresa Ferguson, director of federal broadband engagement for the Colorado Broadband Office, said a major focus for Colorado is maintaining its “COVID-19 Broadband Resources and Updates” Web page. Colorado has existing middle- and last-mile broadband grant programs, but the current crisis has made it difficult to predict how the programs will be maintained in the near future.    
• Stanley Adams, director of broadband initiatives for the Kansas Department of Commerce, said Kansas was about to stand up its first broadband grant program before COVID-19 disrupted the activities of the Kansas Legislature. Still, he said there’s a greater urgency among stakeholders in Kansas to gather data and identify broadband gaps. Adams is seeing much more interagency cooperation in the state, and some local communities have collaborated with service providers to develop short-term solutions for citizens’ connectivity needs.