Rural areas and urban poor left out. Evers calls 2021 the Year of Broadband Access. By Steven Walters - Jan 25th, 2021 02:17 pm //end headline wrapper ?>Laptop. (CC0 Public Domain)
New reports documenting how COVID-19 widened the gap between Wisconsin’s broadband “haves” and “have nots” show why Democratic Gov.
Tony Evers proclaimed 2021 the “Year of Broadband Access” and promised to include about $200 million in his budget to close that gap.
The Governor’s Commission on Rural Prosperity, UW-Extension researchers and Forward Analytics Director
Dale Knapp have all reached the same conclusions: Rural communities, and low-income households, without 25 megabytes per second (25 Mgbps) of internet access are falling significantly behind in educating and retaining the next generation of workers, in starting and nurturing new businesses, in maintaining home values and keeping residents healthy.