Rural Broadband

HIGH-SPEED INTERNET SOUGHT FOR RURAL UPSTATE:

Lawmakers at the state and federal level are pushing for expanding high-speed Internet access to upstate rural areas, saying the technology could help jump-start local economies.

“The key to economic development in the Upstate region is having broadband (Internet) services,” said state Sen. George Winner, R-Elmira. “Having a lack of Internet capacity is certain to hold back any area.”

Gov. George Pataki this week signed into law a measure that would begin the process of laying the fiber-optic cables needed for high-speed Internet access. Lawmakers called the provision a first step, hoping it will help small businesses — particularly farmers — in an increasingly technology-driven marketplace.
“Let's try to nudge this issue,” said Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, D-Ithaca, one of the bill's co-sponsors. “There are a lot of things that can't happen out in rural areas that are happening in more densely populated urban areas.”

The new law would require the state Department of Economic Development to study how to bring high-speed access to the countryside economically and as quickly as possible.

Nationally, New York ranks eighth in broadband connectivity when compared to the rest of the country, with 38 percent of people having high-speed access, according to the Federal Communications Commission. But the majority of those with broadband are concentrated in the New York City region, experts said.