Mainers who can work from home have shifted their lives online to socially distance themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic. But 83,000 addresses in Maine have no access to broadband internet, according to the state’s 2020 Broadband Action Plan. And fewer households in Maine have internet than any other state in New England, according to the latest U.S Census data.
For some policymakers, the novel coronavirus has laid bare the disparities created by the state’s failure to invest in rural broadband and it is yet more proof that the private-sector model to connect rural communities doesn’t work.
“There are kids all across the state without the same access to learning as others because of the state’s failure to invest,” said state Sen. Shenna Bellows (D-Kennebec). “Home health care nurses are being encouraged to deploy telemedicine to communicate with our patients where possible. But the problem is that in many of our rural areas, seniors don’t have access to the internet. So telemedicine is not an option.”
She explained that broadband providers don’t extend their services to all areas of the state because the number of customers, and thus profits, are lower.
“There’s a perception that the private sector will cover the necessary investment and it’s just not true,” Bellows said. “It’s clear that we have this patchwork system that is based on living in proximity to areas where the return on investment for the private sector has been significant.”
Internet access varies widely across Maine. Fewer than one percent of businesses and homes lack access to broadband in Cumberland County, while 76 percent of businesses and homes in Piscataquis County remain unconnected.
Republicans blocked $15 million broadband bond
Last summer, state Republicans blocked a $15 million broadband bond. A two-thirds majority was needed in both the Democratic-controlled Maine House and Senate to put the issue before voters, but Republicans were not on board.
Just before the legislative session in Augusta ended early because of the coronavirus, Governor Janet Mills signed a bill sponsored by Bellows that will make changes to ConnectME, a public authority tasked with helping communities build broadband infrastructure.
One of the changes will require the authority to collect data annually from providers so that communities can more easily apply for federal grants to build infrastructure.
“We really need to be acting as fast as possible to get this investment, so that means breaking down some of the procedural barriers,” said Bellows.
This session, Democrats renewed their push to allocate $15 million in state funds for ConnectME. That allocation bill was carried over to a potential special session after the pandemic.
“To be honest, $15 million, that’s just a drop in the bucket. We need to go much, much bigger,” said Bellows. She believes ConnectME actually needs closer to $40 million right now in state investment to apply for federal matching grants and get the ball rolling.
“If states are not investing, the federal government is less likely to look favorably on applications,” she said. “The next time the legislature reconvenes, we need to think big. Very big.”
Senator King calls on private providers to offer free broadband to students
While solutions for fixing Maine’s broadband access disparities are only inching forward at the state level, the federal government’s response to the pandemic includes some measures that may help.
Late Wednesday, the U.S. Senate voted to spend $2 trillion to blunt the effects of a looming recession. In addition to a $500 billion lending fund for industries, cities and states, the spending package includes $25 million to support distance learning and telemedicine, $100 million for rural broadband through the federal ReConnect program, and $200 million for the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Connected Care Pilot Program.
Earlier this month, 18 U.S. senators, including independent Angus King, who is co-chair of the Senate Broadband Caucus, sent a letter to eight of the major internet service providers, asking them to “to accommodate the unprecedented reliance we will see on telepresence services, including suspending restrictions and offering free or at-cost broadband options to students who otherwise lack broadband.”
Eight of those businesses, including Charter Communications, which uses the brand name Spectrum, a major provider in Maine, said they will heed the call to better support these remote technologies, according to King’s office.
“I’m pleased to see some of the nation’s leading internet service providers stepping up to make sure Americans across the country can access the digital tools they need to continue learning and working,” King said in a March 18 statement.
King is also pushing the FCC to allow schools to tap temporary funding to provide Wi-Fi hotspots to students who lack internet access at home.
Enough capacity for those currently connected
Though many more Maine families are currently relying on broadband for remote work and distance learning, Spectrum has not reported increased outages and the company says they’re not close to exceeding capacity
“Peak usage is normally nighttime,” Spectrum spokesperson Lara Pritchard told Beacon. “We’re monitoring our networks right now. It’s still early, but any increase in daytime network activity has been modest. It’s far below the capacity we have right now.”
‘The private-sector broadband investment model doesn’t work’
For Bellows, with so many Mainers now dependent on the internet to connect to jobs, education, retail services and health care, this moment underscores why the U.S. must begin to think of broadband as a public utility.
She says it harkens back to the arguments made for the New Deal’s massive public investment in rural electrification.
“The public interest in universal broadband is similar to the public interest for universal electricity 90 years ago,” Bellows said. “This moment demonstrates exactly what many of us have been saying, and that is that the private-sector broadband investment model doesn’t work in rural Maine. The private-sector model works in high population density areas where the return on that investment to the private sector encourages investment and innovation. But where people are more isolated and live further apart, that return on investment doesn’t exist for the private sector.”
“As a state, we have a public interest in making sure that all of our state’s children have access to learning, and that all of our state workers have access to be able to join the state and national economy, even remotely,” she said.
Top photo: Vienna, Maine | Jimmy Emerson, DVM, Creative Commons via Flickr
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