Tim Wilkerson, the president of the New England Cable & Telecommunications Association (NECTA), recently wrote a letter in The Falmouth Enterprise telling the people of Falmouth how Cape Codâs âbroadbandâ was a success story during the pandemic.
NECTA is a regional trade association representing private cable telecommunications companies in New England and represents the cable industry. In his letter, he goes on to do a bit of a dance, talking about their track record of connecting Cape Cod in one breath, then touting the millions invested nationally in ânew technology, greater network capacity, internet security and broadband infrastructure and resiliency.â
Tim Newcomb Internet service was agonizingly slow when Ed and Elizabeth Childs moved into their rural Corinth home in 2012. Nearly a decade later, it s not much better. The couple pays $75 a month for DSL service over the copper wires of their local telephone company, but it s useless for many modern tasks. Any kind of teleconferencing or uploading files is a real problem, Ed said. To upload video, even in a compressed format, you re talking hours and hours even days. So Ed, a retired electrical engineer, did two things. He joined the Space on Main in nearby Bradford, a coworking space where he has the high-speed internet connection he needs to develop a new business venture. And he joined the governing board of the East Central Vermont Telecommunications District, better known as ECFiber.
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Melissa McCaw
But the providers of that service are also watching with concern as Connecticut’s state government ramps up efforts to seek greater control over their plans, policies and checkbooks.
“It s critically clear in the 21st century the importance of having access to reliable internet,” state Budget Chief Melissa McCaw said during a recent briefing on the proposed state budget. “This is also about economic opportunity to the extent to which more remote work is done. There are sectors of our population that don t have access to those types of jobs without closing the broadband divide.”
Central to the issue is the state’s persistent digital divide, the difficulty that a portion of the community has in getting online. Gov. Ned Lamont’s office estimates that 23% of Connecticut’s population can’t access reliable internet, either because they lack service, skills or the right devices. Lamont’s focus for 2021 is building out the broadband infrastructure.
‘For the public good’: Praise for Gov. Lamont’s effort to end Connecticut’s digital divide
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Photo: John Minchillo / Associated Press
Officials representing towns across the state as well as educators and political leaders are welcoming Gov. Ned Lamont’s move to introduce legislation that would make broadband and high speed internet services more widely available as well as cheaper in Connecticut.
Alarmed that 23 percent of Connecticut residents don’t have access to internet service of any kind, Lamont said the goal of his ambitious legislation is for the state to have universal broadband service by 2022. Bethel First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker lauded Lamont’s efforts, but said the problem of widespread access to affordable high speed internet is nothing new.