Delgado urges Congress to provide funding for rural broadband

The House of Representatives’ appropriations bill for fiscal year 2020 included the $605 million of funding for ReConnect, but the current Senate appropriations bill has not designated any funding for the program.

“Affordable broadband access is critical for rural families, farms and businesses across the country,” the letter stated. “It allows small businesses to thrive, farmers to use precision agriculture technology, students to complete their homework at home, and patients to access modern health care solutions.”

In addition to providing $550 million to ReConnect in the last fiscal year, Congress also passed the 2018 Farm Bill, which provided $350 million annually for a broadband loan and grant program.

The disparity in broadband access between rural and urban areas is significant. According to the FCC Broadband Deployment Report of 2019, over 25 percent of rural residents don’t have access to sufficient internet speeds, compared to less than 2 percent of urban residents.

“We believe that support for programs such as ReConnect and the 2018 Farm Bill broadband loan and grant program is critical to address the ‘digital divide’ and ensure that our rural communities have equal access to opportunity,” the letter continued.

At the beginning of the month, Delgado held a congressional field hearing to address rural broadband access at Columbia-Greene Community College, attended by FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. He heard from educators, medical professionals, small business owners and broadband providers in his district about the ways in which broadband access to provide economic, educational and health prosperity, and the challenges in providing it.

One week after the hearing, Delgado announced a package of legislation that would address these issues.

“The takeaways were clear: we need to fix flawed broadband mapping protocol and future proof our broadband infrastructure to keep pace with the technology of tomorrow,” Delgado said in a press release.

According to the New York State Broadband Program Office, 98 percent of New Yorkers have access to broadband. But the number is known to be an extreme overestimate because of mapping flaws. If one home within a census block has access to broadband services, the entire block is marked as served, according to the office.

Delgado proposed two bills that would improve issues with broadband mapping procedures: the Broadband Speed Act, to enforce factual advertising of speed rates for rural areas, and the Community Broadband Mapping Act, to adjust the current one-served, all-served measurement flaw.

“Our rural communities need broadband internet that is accessible, reliable, and matches their internet needs and these measures are important steps to closing the digital divide,” Delgado said.