broadband map from the Division of Business and Economic Affairs<\/a>.<\/p>\nMaking the final connection to the Internet is usually a matter between the property owner and a private Internet Service Provider.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the telephone pole to the structure, we\u2019ve found that the ISPs are covering that. Consolidated (Communications) covers 2,000 feet from pole to structure; (New Hampshire Electric Cooperative) is doing about 1,000 feet. Most of the time, there is no charge for installation,\u201d said Conserva.<\/p>\n
Satellite internet is also an option. New rules from the Trump administration included Starlink from SpaceX, a company founded by Elon Musk that provides satellite internet access from low-Earth orbit.<\/p>\n
The information superhighway<\/p>\n
New Hampshire has been working on spreading online access since the mid-1990s, when America Online CDs were the country\u2019s biggest entry point to the internet.<\/p>\n
Original efforts concentrating on building a \u201cbackbone\u201d throughout the state, the big high-speed connections that are the data equivalent of the federal interstate highway system. Ironically, the spread of cell phones helped because cell towers needed hard-wired connections to the main internet, known as backhaul, and this often provided financial backing for the work.<\/p>\n
The past few decades have seen a concentration on \u201cmiddle mile\u201d connections, the rough equivalent of two-lane state roads leading from the interstate to towns and developments. To complete the metaphor, that set of fiber and coaxial cable placed on poles makes it possible for individual buildings to construct their own driveway, giving them access to the entire network.<\/p>\n
All this is expensive and although it can generate revenue and economic activity later on, government support has been needed to get it going, just as happened with the interstate highway system.<\/p>\n
Uncertain spending after deployment<\/p>\n
The recent build-out has been funded by money from what is known as BEAD, the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment fund, through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).<\/p>\n
The state has been allocated $197 million in BEAD funding and has announced provisional awards of $19.4 million to bring access to the final addresses. That includes $6.6 million for Comcast Cable Communications, for fiber and hybrid lines to 573 locations; $6.2 million to Consolidated Communications, which has just rebranded as Fidium, for fiber to 2,574 locations; $5.6 million to New Hampshire Electric Co-Op for fiber to 884 locations; and $953,981 to Starlink to provide satellite internet to 1,105 locations.<\/p>\n
After other costs that leaves \u201cabout $160 million\u201d in what are called non-deployment awards to the state, said Conserva. This is money for broadband-related activities other than laying fiber and building nodes.<\/p>\n
\u201cProviding computers, training, cybersecurity \u2014 there are a whole bunch of things we\u2019d love to use that money for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
State official created a digital equity plan to spend the funds under the BEAD standards as created under the Biden Administration, but in June, the Trump administration issued a policy notice through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration that said, among other things, non-deployment uses such as workforce development, digital literacy efforts or outreach could no longer be reimbursed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe created a digital equity plan but it has been taken back,\u201d Conserva said.<\/p>\n
New Hampshire, like other states, is in waiting to hear how much if any of that money will be available.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat to Read Next<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The news that New Hampshire is very close to 100% broadband penetration marks the culmination of decades of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[64,63,237,1347,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-190021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-internet","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}